TigerFyre: The Truth About Love
by Nemolover
Summary: /Disney's Planes\ The chronicles of Alexis Tigerfyre as she attempts to qualify for her 2nd Wings Around the Globe Rally and win the heart of El Chupacabra. Rated for strong language and sensual scenes. READ & REVIEW POR FAVOR! El Chu/OC
1. Enter Alexis Tigerfyre!

**Okay! Welcome to my Disney Planes fanfiction! This is a story about friendship and how I've come to learn love truly works. It's based on two of my real life situations. Also, it's randomly and pointlessly musical, like The Lion King or … The Hobbit. That was a joke, sort of, for those of you that actually read The Hobbit and know that there was quite a bit of singing in it. If a chapter contains lyrics from/based on a song I will list it at the start of the chapter. Then if you want you can look up the song on YouTube and let your cheerful inner child sing along, or you can do like I did when I read the Hobbit and skip that crap. Maybe you'll find something you like to add to your playlist.  
**

**The characters are normal because … what is this humanized crap? They're talking machines and as a self-professed 'auto'-phile, I love it! That being said my fic's kinda tech-y at some parts. This fiction was started BEFORE I saw Planes so stuff will be different and I ain't re-writin' it. Also, in my Planes book the forklifts are called 'tugs' so I kinda rolled with that. I know in the Cars movies they're called 'pittys', but to me that sounds dumb.**

**Now for the important stuff; Disney owns Planes, yadda yadda yadda. Arianna, Onyx, Stanley Blitzwing, Rodney, and anyone bearing the surname 'Tigerfyre' are mine. The characters in the movie are adults, so I put them in adult situations. Therefore, this fiction is rated T for strong language and sensual scenes, oh, and nudity! So much nudity! There's like nudity in EVERY part! Why? Because they're planes, so stop getting so excited … you perverts. =p**

**Personally, I think it's a little rough. I was going to go back through and add more detail to smooth it out, but it's so long and I'm not even done writing it, and I've been thinking of a sequel so this version should be clear enough that you all can understand what's going on. So, PLEASE let me know what you think.**

**Songs: _Get Low_ by Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz**

* * *

"Oh my gosh," cried Dusty to his tug escort as he was led off the JFK runway in New York. "I'm so tired. Everything is so busy and chaotic here. I thought I'd never get cleared to land. I'm about to fly around the world. I shouldn't have to fly to the qualifiers. I mean I know cars don't ride in cars so planes shouldn't ride in other planes, but cars ride in planes so planes should be able to ride … uh … boats or something, right?"

The tug gave him a look.

"That's what I should've done," continued the crop duster. "I should've taken a nice, relaxing cruise to New York! Definitely should've taken a cruise. I bet all the big racers are taking cruises. No one flies himself to a race. Even racecars don't drive themselves to races."

"Ya sure do talk a lot," said the tug steward at last. "If ya engine's as fas' as ya mout', it's easy to see how ya won tha rally las' year."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. It's just nerves- wait, you know who I am?"

"Of course! Ya Dusty Crophoppa, everybody knows who ya are! In fact, dat's tha only reason ya down here on ya way to tha qualify-ahs instead of in tha air waitin' to be cleared for landin'. Dis is JF-friggin'-K national airport an' we don't got time for most little planes. Now jus' keep goin' straight until ya get to da main gate. Somebody'll be d'ere waitin' for ya. It's been a pleasure Mr. Crophoppa. Welcome back to New York and good luck."

Dusty could hardly follow the directions as he was so caught up in the bustle. All around him, hard-working tugs zipped by to help the planes land safely. Cars and trucks sped past to tend the aircraft and stay on schedule. Skyscrapers surrounded the airport grounds and there wasn't a field to be seen for miles. As he neared the main gate, the sound of his name jarred him from his sightseeing.

"Dusty! Dusty!" Shouted a female navy blue tug as she waved a sign with his name on it. "Do pay attention, Mr. Crophopper. I've been calling your name for the past five minutes. Hurry now!"

She led him to the white zone where a navy blue heavy-duty tow truck was waiting with a long flat bed trailer.

"Wow! I can hardly believe it's you! Hop aboard, Dusty and I'll take you straight to the qualifiers!" The tow truck laughed as the little female tug lowered the flatbed's ramps for Dusty and secured his wheels once he was onboard. "I'm Tucker and my cuddly little associate here is Bernice. We run Tucker's Plane Taxi service. The only one in all of Queens."

Once his passengers were buckled in, Tucker departed the station, "You know, most people said it was dumb to start a plane taxi service. They're all like 'Tuck, planes can fly' but I knew it was a good idea. Planes shouldn't have to fly to their own races. We're smart, Dusty, you and me. See, when everybody else gets there they're going to have to rest, but you're going to be all fired up and ready to race and it's all thanks to me."

"Well, I am a little tired. I did still have to fly from Minnesota to New York," Dusty corrected.

"Aw, that's a shame. Well, at least you got a nice, relaxing ride to the race."

Dusty could feel his oil pressure rise with excitement as Tucker pulled onto the qualifier grounds. He couldn't see any of the other competitors yet but just the sight of the tugs from their crews zipping to and fro was enough to make him want to leap from the flatbed. Finally, Tucker came to a stop.

"Alright, Dusty, that'll be $95 for the ride," said the tow truck.

"What?!" Dusty exclaimed.

"Hey, what can I say? This one of a kind service don't come cheap."

Dusty used his new SkyPad to pay his fare.

"Do you accept Google Wallet?"

"Who doesn't? Thank you, sir! Good luck in the race," Tucker laughed as he sped away.

As Dusty passed the empty grandstands on his way to the competitors' quarters, in his mind he could hear the roaring of the crowd from his win last year and he couldn't wait for a repeat performance. Well, maybe not an exact repeat as he hoped this year things would go a little smoother and that no one would give him a hard time. He began to grow a little nervous as some of the darker memories came back to him. Still, the crop duster tried to remain positive; maybe … hopefully … there might be an accident and Ripslinger would die on his way to the race or something. It was a shame that Chug and Dottie couldn't come to the event with him this year, but he understood that the Fill 'n' Fly wasn't going to run itself. However, the qualifiers were different this year and it was required that he have a crew. Skipper could've at least loaned him Sparky, then he wouldn't have had to hire two tugs he barely knew to service him if he ran into trouble.

At last, Dusty made it to his hangar and it was just as drab and crappy as he remembered it. Out in front, his rental crew shot the breeze with his good pal and fellow racer, El Chupacabra.

"Dusty! Mi amigo! Your team and I were wondering when you'd get here. How was your trip?" Asked the masked plane as he approached the little crop duster.

"Exhausting, except for the ride here from the airport but that was expensive," Dusty replied.

"You rode here from the airport?"

"Yeah, Tucker's Plane Taxi. He's a navy blue tow truck with a matching female tug named -."

"Si, I know of them. I have used their service myself, but they are contracted to bring contestants from the airport to the qualifiers … for _free_."

"Free?"

"Si! Racers and entrants do not have to pay to be transported from the airport to the race."

"He totally ripped me off!" Dusty exclaimed in disbelief.

"Que?" The Mexican racer asked in confusion.

"Tucker! He charged me $95 for the ride here!"

"Oh, uh, perhaps he did not know you are a Wings Around the Globe racer."

"He knew! I can't believe he ripped me off. I even tipped him for ripping me off!"

El Chupacabra laughed heartily as he strolled with his friend, "Come, mi amigo. You need to relax."

Dusty began to feel more at ease at the sight of the familiar faces as they made their way through the competitor's quarters. Ishani warmed up with some stretching as her crew organized her hangar. Bulldog was enjoying the morning's New York Times with a cup of Earl Grey. El Chupacabra stopped to give Rochelle one of his cheesy pickup lines which resulted in her snubbing him once more and retreating into her hangar.

"Losing your touch, El Chu?" Teased Dusty. "What was that about?"

"It … is a long story," he sighed dolefully.

"I've got time."

"Alright then. Rochelle has … broken up with me."

"What? Why?"

"I am not sure. She said I have nothing of use to offer her and the relationship has run its course."

"I'm sorry to hear that, amigo. You don't seem too broken up by it though."

"Of course not! I do not believe it is over. We will get back together, but for right now she still has a lot of setting up to do. We all do."

"Setting up?" Dusty asked.

"Si! Tonight the media arrives," El Chu answered. "Everyone wants to look their best and have their autographed pictures ready."

"Why? This week is just the qualifiers. The actual Rally begins next week."

"Si, but the qualifiers are quickly becoming an event of their own. Fans are excited to see the fresh new faces and the skills they hope to bring to the Rally if they can make the cut. That and it is fun to watch when the duds flop. Mira!"

The two friends watched as a clumsy, young plane attempted a Cuban Eight and crashed into his neighbor's hangar. El Chu chuckled.

"A dud. That was almost me," admitted the crop duster.

"Almost, and now look at you. You are the champion!" Exclaimed the Gee Bee. "You had better watch your back this year though. Ripslinger will be after you for sure."

"No, Ripslinger better watch his back because this year I know all his tricks."

There appeared to be some commotion coming from in front of Ripslinger's hangar. Ripslinger himself was on his personal stage attempting to enjoy a full body buffing and pre-autographing some photos of himself, while Ned and Zed struggled to ward off what seemed to be a deranged fan.

"Come on, Ripslinger! What are you?! Scared?!" A female Grob 120TP taunted him as she flew circles around his hangar.

The female was blue with a white underside. On her left flank, where the blue met the white was written _creo que puedo volar_ and her body was painted with what from a distance looked to be a tribal dragon wrapping around her. Up close, this dragon was actually comprised of an elaborate pattern of tiger stripes. Although extremely artistic the design came off to many as ugly body art. So with her dark coloring and tattooed appearance, at first glance one would've thought she was a boy. However, the big name racers and WATG officials knew better. Instead of the customary 5-bladed propeller of her model, hers possessed only 3. Upon each of her wingtips was attached a small and sleek high-pressure natural gas flamethrower, the tanks of which were mounted safely to either side of her fuselage. In the past she employed them in nighttime stunt shows, but now they were mostly used to threaten others or make mischief.

"As if! Can't you see I'm busy?!" Ripslinger voice vibrated as he was buffed. "Besides it's too early for your games, Lex! If you must make a fool of yourself, you can do it with Ned and Zed!"

"Fine! I will!" She huffed, spiraling up higher into the air, "Come on, boys! I'll give you each a grand if you can beat me in a game of A-L-E-X-I-S!"

"One thousand bucks?! Right on!" Shouted Ned, excitedly heading for the runway and taking off after her.

"What's A-L-E-X-I-S?" Asked Zed, right behind his brother.

"It's her name, stupid!"

"I know that part! I mean how do you play it?!"

"It's simple, fellas," Alexis replied, slowing down so that she flew betwixt them. "I'll do a trick. You guys have to do the same trick exactly how I did it. If you mess up you get a letter. If I mess up, I get a letter and one of you gets to be the leader. First to spell 'Alexis' is out! I'll try to go easy on you!"

She rocketed from in between the pair and into a long, fluid barrel roll.

"That's kid's stuff!" Taunted a cocky Ned as he flawlessly copied her.

"Yeah, anyone can do this!" Agreed Zed as he completed his turn.

"Okay, how about a roll into an outside loop?" Asked the female before executing the trick

Ned took his turn, mixing up the loops.

"Ah ah, Ned! I said an outside loop, not inside!" She corrected with a laugh. "That's an 'A'!"

"Shit! I always get those two confused!" He cursed.

"Pay attention, dummy!" His brother teased.

Captivated by the game, Dusty followed the trio to the open runway as he watched from the ground, "Skipper taught me all those moves. Maybe I should play for $1000."

"You would need it to pay for your ride back to the airport," teased El Chupacabra, following him.

"Ha ha, that's so funny," scoffed the crop duster sarcastically.

Alexis was about to perform a Cuban Eight for the brothers to duplicate, when she caught sight of the growing audience below. The other competitors were gathering to watch her little show and _he_ was among them. Suddenly, she was no longer focused on the game.

"Lex! Watch where you're going! Look out!" Screamed Zed as she barreled in a daydream right for him.

His panicked shrieking awoke her just in time for her to roll off the course of a major collision.

"Let's see," taunted Ned with a laugh. "I don't think a Mach-1 makeout with Zed was the trick you intended so now I'm the leader. That's an 'A' by the way!"

"Whatever," shrugged Alexis as she circled back around. "Man, there isn't any trick you can do that I can't. I can do stunts you fools can't even fathom."

"Oh, we can fathom!" Panted Zed as he finally recovered from the spook of almost crashing.

"Stupid!" Yelled Ned as he flew up alongside his brother and smacked him with one of his wings. Then he questioned Alexis, "What tricks?"

She dropped down to fly beside them and bragged, "I can hover just like a helicopter."

"Bullshit!" The twins said in unison.

"I'm so serious!"

"Oh yeah? Like this?" Asked Ned as he attempted to decelerate to a stop in the air and hover. When his pace dropped to the point he began to dive he anxiously accelerated back up to speed with a terrified yelp.

Alexis cackled hysterically.

"Let me try!" Called Zed. He attempted it the same way as his brother and replicated his failure perfectly.

"Oh, stop! You guys are killing me! Thanks for giving me the leader position back. Oh, and you're both up to "I" now. One more loss and that's the game," jeered the cocky female. "By the way, this is how you do that trick!"

Alexis climbed straight up into the air allowing gravity to slow her to a stop. By applying just enough gas to cancel out the gravitational pull on her body she was able to create the illusion of hovering. With her nose facing the heavens her propeller even simulated the horizontally whirling blades of a chopper. From the ground below, came some mild cheers. Alexis then fell backwards into a loop and flew past an awed Ned and Zed.

"Now, it's time for you boys to earn that 'S'!"

She spotted a water tower just beyond the Air Traffic Control building with crossbars that were much too close together to fly through. Nonetheless, Alexis felt the space between the foundation and the first rung was just big enough. It was a dive that'd bring any plane deathly close to the ground but the stunt plane was crazy enough to try it. How could she not? _He_ was watching!

"Now bring yourselves over here, bros, and let me see you get low if you want this dough!" She rapped, now more into putting on a good show than actually winning the game.

Once again she climbed skyward and allowed gravity to bring her to a stop. She turned to face the ground when suddenly, with a furious tremble, her engine stalled out. End over end she tumbled towards the ground, which drew closer at a horrifyingly increasing rate.

"Oh no! She's out of control! She'll crash!" Cried Ned.

"How many letters will she get for that?" Inquired Zed.

"Don't be a dumbass!" Scolded Ned as he smacked his brother again. "If she crashes that means we automatically win."

Terrified gasps and screams arose from the audience as they witnessed her plunging towards the earth. The WATG Rally emergency team stood by, their sirens blaring as they helplessly watched from the ground.

"Come on. Pull up. Pull up, you crazy girl," said El Chupacabra.

"What the hell are you doing, Alexis?" Ripslinger whispered to himself.

"Oh no. I can't look," whimpered Bulldog, closing his eyes and turning away.

Ishani said a prayer under her breath.

"That plane will never survive a crash like that! Somebody has to do something!" Yelled Dusty.

Without a second thought he raced as fast as he could towards where it seemed Alexis would make impact at the base of the water tower. He was nearly directly below her as she plummeted with frightening haste. Just then she leveled off to fly beneath the tower.

"Watch out, kid!" She warned Dusty as she swerved to avoid him. A smidge to wide for a horizontal entry, she leaned to her right side to pass beneath the tower diagonally. Her right wing tip grazed the concrete and sent sparks flying as an indication of how she barely cleared the opening.

"Yes!" She panted before landing safely back on the runway. "Am I one bad ass stunt plane or what?!"

She was clearly out of breath and her engine was smoking profusely. In an instant the emergency vehicles surrounded her and one of the fire engines doused her with flame retardant foam.

"Try 'the most reckless stunt plane'!" Scolded Rochelle.

"What on Earth is the matter with you?!" Barked Bulldog, his tone highly reprehensive.

"What?! 'Chelle, B-Dog, why you buggin'?" Alexis asked, not understanding everyone's resentment.

"If you EVER do anything like that again, you will be so disqualified! Flying less than 10 feet from the ground on competition grounds is against the rules … not to mention really stupid!" Boomed a furious Roper. "Diving under a water tower, are you insane?! Even your own engine is mad at you!"

"Oh, the overheating? That's no biggie, I've got it completely locked down," Alexis reassured.

The other entrants and their crews left and went about their business as a single orange female tug raced to Alexis' side.

"What the heck happened? What did you do now?!" She demanded.

"Way to show up late, Ari. If I hadn't had everything under control, I'd be dead by now waiting on you," teased the stunt plane. "Anyway, all I did was a few tricks."

"You didn't do that move, did you?"

"I did a lot of moves so you're going to have to be more specif-"

"Don't test me, girl! You know what move I'm talking about! The one move I told you not to do anymore because your engine can't handle it! Did you do it and piss everyone off?!"

"What?! That's not what everyone's upset about. I mean, I did do the move but they're bent because I dove under the water tower."

"You WHAT?!"

"Hey! That was some pretty fancy flying, mister," interrupted Dusty naively as he made his way over to see if the daredevil was alright. "I especially like the part at the end where you gave everyone in the audience a complex … me included."

"Don't you disrespect me, son! I'm no dude!" Alexis snapped, giving him a hard disapproving stare.

"You're a girl?!" Dusty said in astonishment before rapidly catching himself. "I mean, of course you're a girl. I'm sorry."

She scoffed and turned to leave.

"Wait up!" He called as he began to follow her. "I just wanted to say that you must be a talented flyer. Most of those were just basic moves but you do them so smoothly."

"Thanks," She grinned, seeming to have forgiven him. "So … what was up with you rushing towards me like that? Were you going to try to catch me or something?"

"I don't know. I just acted."

"That never would have worked you know. If I had been about to crash you would've just gotten yourself killed with me," she ridiculed.

"Well, excuse me for not wanting the images of your mangled, flaming chassis to haunt me for the entire Rally!"

"Don't trip, I think it's ill. You're all heart, aren't you, Dusty?"

"Uh, thanks … I think," he replied, unsure of what she just said. "Do I … know you because you seem to know me?

"Yeah, you're the current champ; Dusty Crophopper. I'm your biggest fan."

"Really?"

"No," she teased some more. "I only know your name and that you're the crop duster who kicked Rip's tail last year."

"That's more than I know about you," he countered. "Are you new?"

"I wasn't here last year but I've been in this Rally once before."

"Why weren't you here last year?"

"Nunya."

"'Nunya'? What is that?"

"It means don't worry about it, " she said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'm Alexis Tigerfyre, American aerobat. Oh, and this is my entire crew; Arianna."

The tug gave him a nod. From up close, Dusty could find no trace of femininity about Alexis outside her own word that she was female. Her voice, while higher than a man's, was on the deeper end for what would typically be expected of a woman. In the air, her flying was the epitome of grace but here on the ground before him, she was the farthest thing from elegance. He didn't find her the least bit attractive beyond her aerial aptitude, which clearly obsessed him.

"Nice to meet you both. So … an aerobat, huh? You're really good, at least you were up to the part where you stalled out and almost tumbled out of control to your death."

"Yo! I wasn't out of control. I knew exactly what I was doing!

Seeing the oncoming challenge, Arianna sped between the two planes to disrupt Dusty and to turn Alexis away, "Okay, okay. Let's head back to the hangar so I can make sure your engine is in condition to compete tomorrow. _Now_, Lexi!"

"I'm going! Sheesh!" Sighed Alexis as Arianna pushed her towards their hangar. "Peace, Dusty."

"Piece of what?" He asked, still trailing the girls.

"It's means 'goodbye', now begone!" Huffed the little tug, shooing him away before returning to escorting her friend. "That little plane is kinda stupid … I think I like him though."

"Yeah, he's pretty interes-," began the stunt plane before she was cut off by a macho presence.

"Hola, Alexis. It is a relief to see that you are undamaged. Yet, you should not do such crazy things," counseled El Chupacabra, interrupting Alexis' sentence as he crossed the girls' path. "Hmm, you still seem not quite your energetic self though. Is something wrong?"

"Uh … I …"

"Engine overheated," interjected Arianna, fully aware of her friend's less-articulate moments.

"Oh? That is unfortunate," he replied. "I hope you feel better by tomorrow."

"Oh, she will. I'll have her back on top for sure."


	2. Chickenfight!

**Songs: _Number One_ by Nelly / _Move Bitch_ by Ludacris / _Party Up_ by DMX / _This is Why I'm Hot_ by Mims**

* * *

Later, in the team 12 hangar, Arianna closed Alexis' engine cowl as she completed her inspection.

"Okay, you should be good to race for all four qualifier rounds and by 'race' I mean no stunts, especially _that_ one," the overprotective tug warned.

"That's cool. I was only going to do it like 10 more times anyway," Alexis replied.

Unlike most upstarts' hangars, theirs contained quite a bit of stuff and was definitely comfortable. In one of the corners closest to the entrance were Arianna's tools all neat and organized, her cherished SLR camera, and her smart TV. The TV's main purpose was to show Arianna's photography, otherwise Alexis used it to kill some time. In the other corner sat a table that, to Arianna's displeasure, served as a catchall for whatever the stunt plane brought back. The two corners in the rear contained little more than a large rug in each for the girls to park upon when going to sleep. Arianna's was made of a fine silk blend with intricate Japanese designs, which would've been extraordinarily expensive if Alexis' hadn't won it in a bet with the merchant's arrogant son. Alexis had given it to her because she herself had little appreciation for such 'girly things' as she called them. The stunt plane's rug was nothing special, little more than a large piece of discounted carpet because she was practically unconscious in her slumber and could therefore sleep on anything. In neat stacks near Alexis' sleeping area were many, many gift baskets and each contained a bottle of TigerFyre; her grandfather's homemade flavored engine conditioner. The baskets also had a bottle of TigerFyre brand flavored engine oil, and the second in a series of holographic autographed glamour shots of the gifted aerobat's most awe-inspiring stunts.

"You're not listening … again!" Nagged Arianna, folding her lifts in a pout.

"I don't have time. Everyone is so bent for absolutely no reason when they should be giving me props for my fresh skills."

"I'm sure they are just as impressed as you want them to be, but they don't want to see anyone get hurt especially from showing off. You just scared them, that's all."

"I've still got to make amends," said Alexis as she gathered up a few gift baskets and carefully balanced them on her wings. "Alright, got to dip!"

With that she raced from the hangar.

The last year that Alexis had competed in the Rally was her first so she had been more than a little star-struck. Feeling that none of the big racers would know of her or bother to remember her name, she'd made the gift baskets of her grandfather's oil recipe for her competition as a way of creating a positive first impression. Though you never would have guessed it from her appearance or demeanor, she was from an affluent family who believed that any highly anticipated first introduction is best remembered with a wonderfully useful gift. In fact, her family was inclined to believe that was one of the reasons her grandfather created TigerFyre in the first place: one; to ease his beloved's aging engine, and two; being the enchanting social butterfly he was, to give away to his soon-to-be dearest friends upon meeting them for the first time. It was most effective! While normally a bit discourteous with each other and particularly newcomers, the racing icons had quickly warmed to Alexis and even to her excessive, unrefined manner.

So, starting with Ishani and then Rochelle, Alexis brought each of her colleagues a gift basket and asked their forgiveness for her reckless act earlier. When she reached team 11's hangar, the British racer was outside having a dispute with a tug. It seemed they had just finished as Alexis pulled up.

"Whoa, am I interrupting something?" She asked, stepping aside to let the angry tug motor past.

"Not at all," replied Bulldog. "Just telling off a know-it-all member of my crew. I've been racing longer than anyone else out here and I certainly don't need flying advice from a flightless forklift, thank you. My technique is flawless!"

"That's great but … um … didn't you almost die last year?"

"Wha- heavens no! Where did you hear such a preposterous thing?!"

Alexis raised her wings in a shrug.

"So, which of your 'bad ass' skills are you here to demonstrate this time?" He inquired mockingly, changing the subject as he turned and went back into his hangar. "Maybe you'll explode into a fiery cataclysm and take us all with you. Mmm, yes, that should be lovely!"

She sighed heavily with the frustration of having said similar lines multiple times before responding, "If you'd hop off my elevators for five minutes you'd see that I came to apologize."

She tilted her wings to the right and allowed the last gift basket to slide to the ground before Bulldog.

"For what, exactly?" He milked.

"For being too awesome for planes with delicate constitutions to handle."

He scoffed at her sarcasm.

"Fine! For not having proper safety precautions in order or giving proper warning before executing a dangerous stunt, and for not taking into consideration the effect such disregard for my personal safety has on others. There, do you forgive me now?"

"Jolly good," he replied, already rummaging through his gift basket excitedly. "Of course, I would've forgiven you anyway."

"What?!"

"Don't get me wrong; I love to hold a grudge, but to stay cross with you and risk missing out on this wonderful elixir of yours. Are you mad?" He kissed the bottle to emphasize, and then continued, "It's a crying shame it's no longer sold in markets."

"Actually I was thinking of opening an online store and selling it myself."

"That's smart. I can't wait!"

"Since you appreciate it so much maybe you should give me some of your racing tips. I think that's a fair trade," Alexis prodded with a grin.

"I can't share any of my secrets with you unless you're a member of team Bulldog," he refused before motioning for his crew to make him some tea with the engine conditioner.

"This is the second year I've hooked you up with _free_ TigerFyre. Did I mention it was free … both times? At this point, I thought I was on team Bulldog."

"I bet you say that to all the racers."

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"I'm sorry, Alexis dear, but you can't be on my team and everyone else's at the same time. You'd probably run off and tell Ripslinger all my racing secrets. I bet you even want him to win."

"Yeah right. That fool almost always wins. I wish I'd been here last year to see him lose for a change. Some lessons in humility and good sportsmanship will be good for him."

"Hear-hear. He was quite merciless to Dusty, the brute. So, other than yourself, who would you care to see take the flag?" Asked the Havilland DH.88 before taking a sip of his brew when the tug brought it to him.

"Hmm … I'd have to say … El Chupacabra," she responded.

It took Bulldog a great deal of control to swallow his drink instead of spit it when he heard her answer, "May I ask why?!"

"I'd prefer if you didn't."

"But he's so … so …," he struggled in his consternation to find the accurate words and unravel Alexis' motives.

Alexis chose not to make eye contact during his floundering lest she be found out, but the Briton was keen.

"Oh," he said at last with a warm smile. "This … explains a lot."

"I need to go!" Snapped Alexis quickly as she turned to make a hasty exit.

"Before that, I actually do have a tip for you," said Bulldog. "Stop stalking him and tell him how you feel."

"Stalking who? Tell him what? I have no idea what you're talking about!" She called back to him as she left.

"Of course not. Cheerio then, Miss Tigerfyre!"

Alexis sighed deeply, feeling she had just dodged a bullet. The day was becoming late afternoon outside and when she made her way back home she couldn't help but notice Ned and Zed as they bickered about something from in front of Ripslinger's grand personal stage. Bulldog's mention of Ripslinger's conduct in the last race left Alexis quite curious and even though she held no intention of handing out anymore gifts for the day she found herself swinging back by her place to pick up another couple of baskets.

"So, how'd it go?" Arianna implored as the Grob 120TP returned.

"Fine, fine, water under the bridge. There are still a few deliveries I need to make. Also … I think Riplinger's been cheating."

"And … you're surprised by this? Lexi, the guy is an asshole and you're going to feel so much better when you stop pretending like he's not. So, come on, park it over here. I made dinner, we can play Taboo, then we'll turn in early and you'll be all rested up for the first round tomorrow."

"Really? Taboo and everything? That all sounds really nice. Question; is this all like a bonding, girl's night in kind of thing or are you babysitting?"

"A little bit of both maybe. Wait, that's a lie. It's definitely babysitting because if you're in here, I know you're not out there hot-dogging."

"Fun. Well, I'm going to go make these drops and then I'll be right back."

"Lexi, no!" Shouted Arianna, chasing after Alexis as she raced from the hangar for the second time. "Dammit!"

Meanwhile, Dusty and El Chupacabra chatted as they strolled through the competitor's quarters.

"So, your pictures are really good, I just wish I had thought of that in advance so I'd be prepared," said Dusty. "I guess tonight I'll just stay in my hangar and avoid the media altogether."

"You can not do that, amigo. You are last year's winner. They are going to want to talk to you the most."

"I know, but it's so distracting. I just want a calm night so I can focus on qualifying tomorrow. Actually, what I really want is to know is how Alexis did that trick this morning."

"Yes, I know. You have been wondering about it all day. If I tell you how she did it, will that finally put your mind at ease?"

"Yeah!"

"Ok … smoke and mirrors. That's how she did it."

"What? That doesn't even make any sense."

"Mira, I don't know how it is done. If you want to know so badly ask her yourself. I need to go have my cape ironed. Hasta luego."

"Alright. Hasta, amigo," the crop duster replied, managing to butcher the Spanish phrase quite well. He went up to team 12's hangar and peered inside, "Hello, is Alexis here?"

"You just missed her but if we're both very lucky she'll be back in a few minutes," Arianna responded, sipping some synthetic as she scrolled through the shots she had taken today on her camera. "You can come in and wait if you want. Would you like a drink?"

"Um, yes, thank you."

"Want a little TF in it?"

"Uh, what is that?"

"Short for 'TigerFyre'."

"Um …"

"Seriously? You've never heard of this stuff? You really are a farm boy. Here, I'll put some in anyway. It's good for you."

Dusty took a sip from the flex spout of the oilcan, "Wow, this is good. What is it?"

"It's an engine conditioner and don't worry it's completely legal. Alexis' grandfather created it, hence the name."

"There's no alcohol in it right? Because I have to drive back to my hangar."

"That's really funny … in a corny kind of way," laughed Arianna briefly before returning to scrolling through her photos.

There was a long silence as Dusty nursed his drink and watched the pictures flash across the TV screen. Finally, he said, "So, in addition to being a mechanic, you're a photographer?"

"Yes, sir."

"That's great because I actually need some professional pictures done so I can make autographs like the other racers. How much would you charge me?"

"No lie, I will do a session for you completely free if you do me a solid."

"Sure. What's a solid?"

"It's a favor, now pay attention. Can you go find Alexis for me and bring her back here?"

"Yeah, no problem," said Dusty as he backed out of the hangar.

When Alexis approached team 13's hangar, Ned and Zed immediately stopped arguing once they noticed her and the gift baskets balanced upon her right wing.

"Lex!" Called Ned. "Great job not dying today. That was awesome."

"Yeah, awesome. Are those for us?" Inquired Zed eagerly before his brother punched him with a wing.

"Well, I might have one for you guys if you answer some questions for me. So, last year, for Rip to lose to Dusty he must've really been playing nice. He must've just let him have the race, right, but why would he do something like that?"

"As if. Ripslinger tried everything to stop him," said Ned.

"By 'everything' you must mean 'nothing' because he's just a crop duster. He's not even built for racing," replied Alexis, further drawing the brothers out.

"No, the boss had us try taking his antenna, getting him lost, he had that Indian girl throw him off course, Dusty even crashed in the Pacific, but … he just kept coming back," explained Zed. "Ripslinger says he's like the herpes of the sky."

"Gross… Okay, I guess I'll go talk to Ripslinger. Thanks boys, here's your basket."

The sun was beginning to set as Alexis entered the ex-champ's hangar.

"So, this is what the hangar of a has-been looks like," she jeered. "It's still very nice."

"You know, for a moment I was kind of pleased to see you … and now I'm not. What do you want?" Asked Ripslinger.

"Be easy, Rip, I just want to talk," Alexis said nonchalant. "I've been hearing some talk about you cheating and I didn't want to believe it so I thought I'd come clear the air so to speak."

"Well, you and I both know that I would never do anything like that. I don't have to cheat. I'm the best."

"Yes, we both know that don't we? Uh, question; how's your sky herpes?"

"My what?" He asked in confusion before the phrase's meaning came back to him and he sighed in annoyance. "Damn those two."

He approached her casually with a smile that made her a bit uneasy.

"I'm sorry, Lex. I was under the impression that because you weren't with us last year that your expectations of me were void."

"Playing fair isn't just my expectation of you, it's the rules. You know better."

"Look here, just because I call you my 'friend' don't think, for even a moment, that you own me. You asked me to leave that Mexican prick alone and I did. Now, if you're done lecturing me and there's a point to your visit, get to it and then get out."

He lunged at her sharply which made her flinch and drop the remaining basket she'd been balancing.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Oh, for real?" Alexis asked a bit stunned by the custom plane's behavior. "You get a bit frisky at night don't you, Ripslinger? Okay! You know, my point in coming here was the same as usual; bring you some oil, wish you'd have fun and be safe in the race. But since you want to play chicken, now I'm thinking, yeah, let's play chicken for it."

"You're on."

Outside it was getting dark but the sun burned so intensely on the western horizon that half the cloudless sky held its bright orange glow. Enough members of the press had arrived that the other entrants were occupied. A few reporters and photographers attempted to engage Ripslinger to no avail as he headed for the runway. Ned and Zed instantly recognized the competitive glare in their boss' eyes, and the matching look in Alexis' could only mean epic-ness was about to ensue. So, they followed completely restless in anticipation. Alexis and Ripslinger lined up side by side on the asphalt. Ripslinger motioned for his personal DJ to play some music to help him get amped as they loosened up, fully knowing it had the same effect on Alexis.

"It's ladies first, you know. Shame there's no ladies here!" He teased before rocketing up into the air ahead of her.

Alexis followed and eager to let the trash talk commence, she joined in with lyrics of the music,

_ You better watch who you talking 'bout  
running your mouth  
like you know me  
You gonna mess around and check  
why for surely  
they call me 'show me'_

_Try to compare this  
my fame to your fame  
I'm like Sprint and Motorola  
'no service', 'out of your range' _

The pair split up midflight and after creating a large enough gap, they looped around to face each other. Up in the air, the wind was on Ripslinger's side and he used his green smoke to hinder her vision as she accelerated towards him. Unable to guess where he might be in the green smog, Alexis was forced to pull up and away. Seeing her as she made an exit he purposely attempted to clip the tip of one of her wings with his. Discovering his intention in the nick of time she barrel rolled away from him.

"Isn't a smoke screen against the rules?!" Alexis chided as they flew apart to set up for the second pass.

"It's chicken! There are no rules!" He laughed haughtily.

"And you attempting to knock me out of the sky just then. What was that about?"

"You're the one who wanted to battle," he replied, referring to a rap battle and her previous lyrical exchange. Ripslinger was known to enjoy hip-hop and had a penchant for rhyming himself. The very fact that Alexis entertained the idea of out-singing him with his own playlist was enough to fan his ambitious flames to a dangerous level.

_ All that pressure you're applying  
it's time to bring it off  
before I hit you from the blind side  
taking your wings off._

_I … am … number one.  
No matter if you like it.  
Take it as I recite it;  
I … am … number one! _

"Okay," she said, catching her breath. "You want to play dirty."

The DJ changed the song for pass two as they turned to face each other again. Directly below, along either side of the runway, a crowd was gathering once more. However this time it was mostly composed of the media, the various team forklifts, and the upstarts as the big shot racers chose to watch from outside their respective hangars. When Alexis and Ripslinger charged for each other again, he attempted to blind her with another smoke screen. Knowing he had to decelerate to avoid being caught in the smoke himself, this time she sped through allowing the wind to blow it over her. Whilst in the smoke, she lit her flamethrowers and when she emerged from the other side she quickly blasted two small clouds of flame at Ripslinger.

"Fuck!" He screamed, completely aghast as he rolled out of the fire's path and hers. His shriek was so uncharacteristically high pitched it surprised even him.

"What's the matter, Rip? Too hot for you?" She mocked. As they flew apart to set up for the final pass, she sang,

_ Move bitch, get out the way!  
Get out the way, bitch, get out the way!  
Oh no! The fight's out!  
I'm 'bout to knock your ... lights out! _

From the ground every news camera was capturing the event. Spectators who actually enjoyed rap cheered like they were at the world's greatest concert as the DJ put on the song for the final round. Those who found the music to be little more than noise and the lyrics to be boastful and unsportsmanlike watched in horror at each near-catastrophic encounter. Even though Ripslinger's critics were outnumbered by his fans in the crowd, they managed to take solace each time he was served, in act or in verse. Dusty, having had searched for Alexis in every competitors' hangar, drew towards the gathering more in hope of finding out what was going on than finding her among them. He followed their gazes up into the air and there she was!

"I don't know about you but when it comes to fire, I think it might be nice to _see _something like that coming towards me!" Alexis called to Ripslinger as they turned to each other for the final pass. Her taunt warned him of what he already knew; that if he attempted the smoke screen again he wouldn't be able to see if she intended to barbeque him.

Heading straight for her, he rapped,

_ I don't know who the hell you think you talking to_

_but I'm not him, alright slim  
So watch what you do  
or you're gonna find yourself_

_buried next to someone else_

_when we all thought you loved yourself _

Alexis could see in his eyes that this time he was resolute. She figured he'd rather hit her than lose, especially in front of this crowd. Winning the game wasn't worth their lives, but she knew he was the type of person who could only be influenced by those he respected. She wanted his respect but why did it have to be that way? Why was the title of "Ripslinger's friend" something that could only be earned in combat with him? Why did she want that title to begin with and was it even worth it? More importantly as the distance between the two planes rapidly decreased, what could she do that would make the overconfident Ripslinger back down?! An idea came to her and even though she'd been sternly advised against it, there wasn't time to remember exactly why. Continuing towards Ripslinger, she began a series of rapid, consecutive rolls. It was strange and mildly threatening but he remained unresponsive. Not being able to tell which way was up and which was down while she rolled at that speed, Alexis quickly jerked her nose in the direction she believed to be down. Consequently, her tail swung the opposite way so that the momentum of both her forward motion and her rolling propelled her end over end, directly for Ripslinger in an erratic manner that was unequivocally menacing!

"Whoa!" She hollered, hoping to psych him into further believing that she couldn't stop.

"Shit!" Thinking she was a goner, Ripslinger dived out of the way to avoid becoming collateral damage.

It was déjà vu; Alexis tumbling out of control and the screaming horrified crowd expecting the imminent crash. Arianna raced from the hangar to see what the commotion was outside.

"No!" She screeched aloud when she caught sight of Alexis in the air.

Once she believed she was clear of Ripslinger, Alexis slowed her spiraling and went from tumbles to spins until she was able to regain her bearings. A bit dizzy but completely safe, she touched down on the runway blissfully unaware of the havoc she'd created.

"I win! Yes!" She shouted elatedly. Making sure to get in Ripslinger's face, she danced around him and sang,

_ This is why I'm hot, this is why I'm hot_

_This is why_

_this is why_

_this is why I'm hot_

_I'm hot 'cause I'm fly_

_You ain't 'cause you not_

_This is why_

_this is why_

_this is why I'm hot _

Ripslinger growled loudly in annoyance.

The press sprang upon Alexis, hungry for information.

"Say, aren't you Alexis Tigerfyre, grandson of the late Leone Tigerfyre; entrepreneur and creator of TigerFyre engine conditioner?" Asked one reporter.

"Actually, I'm his granddaughter," she corrected in annoyance.

"You're a girl?! I mean, uh, that was a pretty impressive stunt you beat Ripslinger with. Whatzit called, kid?" Inquired another journalist.

"It's called-," she began.

"That's it!" Cried Dusty excitedly as he pushed through the noisy throng to get to Alexis. "That's the move! What is that move?!"

"It's called-," she started once more.

"I don't give a damn what it's called!" Boomed a familiar imposing voice, the very sound of buzz kill itself. "Didn't we just have this discussion this morning?!"

Roper shoved his way through the crowd and up to Alexis.

"Um, I believe the discussion we had was about me flying under the water tower because flying less than 10 feet from the ground on competition grounds is against the rules," the stunt plane justified. "See? I remember."

"Shut it! I'll deal with you in a minute," the forklift barked. "Alright everybody! Time for all press to leave! I'm serious! Don't make me call security! You don't have to go home but you can't stay here! Come back tomorrow! The first qualifying round starts at 10 AM!"

The reporters and photographers left for the night.

Roper turned back to Alexis, "I know you weren't playing chicken in my airspace."

"Ripslinger started it!"

"He doesn't have to qualify! You do! Let me make this clear; no chicken fights! That's strike number two! You're on thin ice, girl!"


	3. The First Round: Skill

Alexis sighed exasperatedly, moment in the limelight over before it began.

"Wow, you are very talented," chuckled Dusty. "Especially when it comes to making trouble."

"No offense, but I'm really not in the mood," she sighed.

"I bet. It's been a long day. Mind if I escort you back to your hangar?"

"Uh, why?"

"Because if I don't get a chance to ask you about that move, I'll go insane. So, you can spin out of control like that any time you want?"

She nodded.

"That is so cool," gushed the crop duster. "What's it called?"

"It's called-"

"The Lomcevak," interjected Arianna, looking none too pleased. "And it's the bane of my existence."

"Oh, great! You're going to yell at me too?" Alexis asked the tug.

"Hey, Arianna. I was bringing her home like you asked," grinned Dusty.

"I wanted you to bring her back before the Lomcevak. Not after. Pop it," the mechanic demanded and Alexis opened her engine cowl compliantly. "Start it."

It took two tries but the engine rumbled to life. Arianna glared at Alexis and then Dusty before she slammed the Grob 120TP's hood closed and angrily stormed back to their hangar.

"Whoa, … she's scary," Dusty said.

Alexis giggled, "You have no idea."

"Anyway, … that was great, the way you showed up Ripslinger like that. However, he'll probably hate you now like he hates me."

"He won't hate me."

"You sound so sure. He looked really mad."

"He is mad, but that's how we play."

"That was playing?! It looked so serious, I thought you two were going to kill each other!"

"Yeah, but tomorrow we'll be cool," she assured.

"If you say so. I don't know why you choose to hang out with those three. There are much nicer racers to associate with like El Chu, Ishani-"

"Bless you."

Dusty thought her interruption was strange but ignored it, "There's Bulldog and Rochelle. I haven't hung out with her personally but El Chu thinks she's nice."

"Bless you."

He paused for a bit this time before continuing, "El Chu was the first friend I made here so-"

"Bless you."

Starting to get concerned he turned to her, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Ask away," she replied.

"Do you have Tourette's?"

"No, why?"

"Because I'm trying to have a conversation and you keep saying 'bless you'."

"I'm just trying to be polite. You're the one having a sneezing fit."

"Sneezing fit? Oh!" He exclaimed when he solved the miscommunication. "No, I was saying 'El Chu' … not 'Ah-choo'!"

"What the hell is 'El Chu'?"

"El Chupacabra. That's what he tells his friends to call him."

"That's whack. I'd never call him that."

"Whack?"

"It means lame."

"Oh. Well, what do you call him then?"

"I-uh."

"Ay-ah?"

"No. I … uh," Alexis replied, saying it slower.

"Why?"

"Because … whenever he's around that's all I can seem to say."

Dusty had to stop and think about it for a moment before finally replying, "Now that's whack."

Alexis found the way he spoke the slang a riot and the two planes erupted in laughter for a moment.

"I'm serious though," said Dusty at last. "He's the nicest guy. I don't believe it; you're friends with everyone else, you even 'play' with Ripslinger, but you don't even talk to El Chupacabra. Come on, I'll introduce you. I just know the three of us are going to be good friends."

Dusty led Alexis from the runway back to the competitor's quarters.

"There he is," he said when he spotted the Gee Bee being told off by Rochelle again.

At the sight of him Alexis felt her tank fill with nervous knots. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"Maybe some other time. He looks busy," she said.

"Don't worry, he's not," replied Dusty coming back to her side. "Come on."

"I can't go over there. You see, sometimes my wheels lock up. It's the darnedest thing," she fibbed anxiously.

"Oh, ok. Hey, El Chu!" Dusty called to his friend. "Come here! There's someone I want you to meet!"

The Mexican racer promptly made his way over to the pair, his cape swaying bewitchingly behind him.

"Yes?" He inquired upon reaching them, his voice sultry and deep.

"El Chupacabra … meet Alexis Tigerfyre. Alexis … El Chupacabra," announced Dusty.

"I … uh," stammered Alexis, unable to take her eyes off El Chupacabra's beguiling brown ones.

Dusty, believing she was joking again, laughed at her reply.

"We know each other," El Chu informed his friend.

"No, you _know of_ each other. You don't 'know' each other," the crop duster corrected. "I bet you didn't know that Alexis here is a super talented aerobat."

"Aerobat? This is good to know. Now I need no longer be concerned when you are doing something dangerous in the air, yes?"

"I … uh …"

Dusty didn't understand why she wasn't trying to make conversation so he took it upon himself to keep the discussion going until the two could become friends.

"El Chu is the Mexican indo-"

"He's the Mexican indoor racing champion, and a mariachi recording artist, and a daytime TV soap opera star, and a leading romantic novelist."

"How … do you know all that?" Asked Dusty, a little creeped out.

"I'm your biggest fan!" Alexis enthused, coming closer to El Chu.

"Really? That is fantastic!" El Chupacabra replied.

"I have your CD, _Rudios de Motor._ 'Mi Tanque esta Lieno de Amor' is my jam. I blast it night and day."

"Blast?" El Chu looked to Dusty for clarification.

Dusty shrugged, more lost on the Spanish parts of her response than the slang. A long, awkward silence followed. The boys looked around anxiously as Alexis just stared fanatically at El Chupacabra. It was starting to get late.

"Well, I should probably get some rest for tomorrow," El Chu began.

"Hold it!" Alexis shouted so swiftly that it startled both males. "Why don't we kick it at my crib in the morning and have breakfast together before the first round starts?"

"That sounds great! Right, El Chu?" Dusty agreed, a bit overly eager.

"Who's crib are we kicking exactly?" Asked El Chu, having a difficult time comprehending her vernacular.

"Yeah, Alexis, why are we kicking cribs?" The crop duster inquired, embarrassedly admitting he had no idea what she meant as well

"Man, you guys are so slow," she replied in annoyance. She struggled for a moment to find the equivalent words, "Let's hang, uh, meet at my place for breakfast tomorrow."

"Oh, we'll be there," Dusty smiled.

Alexis returned to her hanger feeling lighter than air from having had an actual conversation with her idol, but worried she and Arianna were no longer on speaking terms. She quietly rolled inside. The forklift was parked in her corner upon her rug. Alexis parked in her own sleeping quarters.

"Ari, are you awake?" She questioned softly.

When no reply came she sighed deeply before drifting off to sleep.

Being highly energetic, Alexis was awake when the first slivers of sunshine peeked over the horizon. She flew to the nearby strip of beach to see the sunrise over the ocean. When she returned to the competitor's quarters, it was still too early to prepare breakfast so knowing Bulldog was the only other early riser she went to visit him. When she pulled up to his hangar he was already outside enjoying a cup of tea and looking up at the dawn.

"Lovely isn't it? Good morning, Miss Tigerfyre," he crooned, his greeting dripping British charm.

She nodded and parked beside him.

"I must say I deeply enjoyed watching you humiliate Ripslinger last night. Good show, jolly good show indeed!"

"Thanks," she beamed with glee and nodded again.

"But, uh, got in trouble again didn't we?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Heavens, I could hear Roper's tongue lashing from here. You'd better straighten up and fly right."

"Yeah, well … Ripslinger started it."

"Always does."

The two planes chatted for about an hour before the next racer awoke. Coincidentally, it was Ripslinger.

"What? He never wakes up early," said Alexis as she watched him from Bulldog's hangar. "But I'm glad he did today. I wasn't done giving him a piece of my mind. Later B-dog."

She approached Ripslinger's hangar quietly to sneak up on him from behind.

"Morning, Rip!" Alexis abruptly shouted, scaring the daylights out of him.

"Goddammit, Lex!" He shrieked, startled.

"What are you doing up so early? It's not like you have to qualify or anything."

It took him a few moments to regain his composure before he could reply, "True."

"So, about last night, no hard feelings right? Are you mad, bro? You're not bent are you? Are you bent? You look bent."

"Why would I be bent? I'm not the one who got busted."

"That is so true._ I_ got busted. _You_ just screamed like a little bitch in front of everyone. Oh, and you lost."

Ripslinger turned to her and growled, "What do you want?"

"I just want to tell you not to call El Chupacabra a prick ever again, that's all," she answered coolly.

"Why? You don't get upset when I talk about anyone else. What if I say I'm a prick?"

"Well, that's probably accurate."

"What if I say Bulldog's a prick?"

"That's not nice. You shouldn't say that."

"Dusty's a prick."

"That's not nice. You shouldn't say that."

"El Chupacabra's a prick."

Suddenly, Alexis' eyes shot to Ripslinger's in a fierce, icy glare that made him a tad uneasy.

"See? There it is. Right there. That's the look you gave me before our little showdown last night," the custom plane taunted. "So what is it? You into him or something?"

She puffed a short, harmless burst of flame at him, which was enough to make him leap back.

"Don't push it," she warned, turning to leave.

"Don't leave yet. Let's wake Ned and Zed. We were going to toast you good luck."

"You wake 'em. There's something I need to do first then I'll be right back," she said before heading to the completion grounds' cafeteria hangar.

Dusty's alarm finally went off, startling him awake. El Chu's hangar was right next to his so he yelled to wake him.

"El Chu, wake up! Breakfast at the crib," he yawned.

"I am awake," El Chu muttered, not bothering to open his eyes. "Cinco más minutos…"

"No, no more minutes. Get up!"

When the two made it to team 12's hangar they found only Arianna up and about.

"Morning. Did we miss the crib-fast?" Asked Dusty meekly.

"The what?" The puzzled tug asked.

"Where's Alexis? We were supposed to have breakfast with her this morning."

The tug shrugged, "I dunno. She came in with breakfast made for the three of us, and then left. Yours are on the table."

On the table were two serving trays, each with a plate of steaming hot gask-its and an ice-cold oilcan of Nitroade. Across one plate was drizzled 'Dusty' in blueberry flavored Tigerfyre brand engine oil, on the other was 'EC'. However, on El Chupacabra's tray there was a card and a single sunflower.

"This looks absolutely delicioso," said El Chu as he approached his tray.

"Yeah," agreed Dusty. "But that's weird. Mine doesn't have a card or flower."

"Perhaps they are meant for both of us."

"You're probably right," said the crop duster as he took a sip of Nitroade. "So what does it say?"

El Chu read the card aloud, which said;

_I … uh… _

_- Lexi_

Arianna and Dusty both began to laugh while El Chu ate his breakfast in confusion. As Dusty ate he gazed around the hangar. Over half of the gift baskets were gone and now there were three large boxes taking up the space where the others had been. One box contained a few neatly rolled posters, another had a couple of books, and the last comprised of a few pieces of assorted offerings. He would've liked very much to take a closer look but not without Alexis' permission. After breakfast, Dusty and El Chupacabra looked for their host to thank her. They found her in front of team 13's hangar, enjoying a drink with the wily team RPX.

"Oh man! That was so funny last night. Boss, you were all like 'fuck!'," laughed Zed, doing his high pitched imitation of Ripslinger's scream and then taking a sip of his coolant drink.

"No, it was more like 'fuck!'" Corrected Ned with an even more ridiculous impression.

"Yeah, and his face was like… ," giggled Alexis as she made a goofy expression.

"I wish you three would shut up," grumbled Ripslinger. "Thanks, Lex, for making me into a laughingstock!"

He drank from his oilcan with a pout.

"Chill, Rip, it was just a game," she consoled. "You're the only one taking it this seriously. Win or lose, the crowd loved it."

"I HATE-"

"We know, we know; 'you _hate_ losing'," the chuckling trio said in unison.

"Look, different planes are good at different things. I'd probably never beat you in a race, just like you'll never beat me in anything agility and stunt related. So, what do you say? Bygones?" Asked Alexis pleasantly and then sipped her own beverage.

Ripslinger approached her and let out a deafening belch before replying, "I say 'beat that'."

Ned and Zed followed with thunderous belches of their own and then turned to Alexis.

"Okay then," she said. She loosened up, took a deep breath, and let out the tiniest, shortest belch in plane history.

The boys cackled uproariously.

"You burp like a girl!" Laughed the twins.

"Fools, contrary to popular opinion, I _am _a girl," she retorted, standing tall in an attempt to hide her humiliation with pride.

"Could've fooled me," sneered Ripslinger.

"All of you can kiss my ailerons. I'm going to go warm up."

"Good luck and you better qualify, because I'm looking forward to making you eat my dust in the Rally!"

"I guess she was right. She does seem to get along with them," admitted Dusty as he watched the female interact with team RPX.

"Blech, she is very much like them herself," gagged El Chu, repulsed by the female's behavior. "I will see you in the first round, mi amigo. I must go get ready."

"Okay. I'm going to say hey to Ishani. Peace, amigo."

10 AM came and with it, the start of the qualifiers.

"Welcome to the first qualifying round of the Wings Around the Globe Rally!" Announced Roper over his megaphone. "As you may already know, things are a bit different this year. This year there is only one four-day international qualifying event and the Rally itself starts the following week. There will be four qualifying rounds, that's one round per day, and each will test the entrants in a different area that is key to success in the Rally. The four areas are speed, endurance, navigation, and skill! The entrants will be tested in order by team number but the following teams are exempt. Team 6 … Ishani. Team 11 … Bulldog. And Team 13 … Ripslinger."

"I feel like since I won the last Rally, I should be exempt from having to qualify this year," stated Dusty, interrupting the head official's announcement.

"That sounds like a fun rule. Maybe we'll do that next year, but this year … you do have to qualify, crop duster."

"But why? I'm the champ."

"Man, the exempt planes win races all the time! You just won once … so get to your mark, champ." Roper dismissed the little plane before continuing his broadcasting. "We have approximately 50 planes to go through so this will be an all day event. However, once you are informed of your results you can go about your business, but keep an eye on the leaderboard because only the top 22 competitors will be selected to compete in the Rally. Today's round is … skill!"

"Yes!" Cheered Alexis. "Easy money!"

"There are 5 basic moves every racing plane should know; the Roll, the Barrel Roll, the Inside Loop, the Outside Loop, and the Cuban Eight. First in today's test, you will execute a ½ roll through 4 12-foot wide gaps. The gaps alternate between vertical and horizontal so to keep from losing your wings you will need to roll 90 degrees each time until you've gone a complete 360 degrees. Next, you will barrel roll through the first hoop. Then, you will do an inside loop through the second hoop and an outside loop through the third. Finally, you will perform the Cuban Eight through the 2 sets of double hoops at the end. Because these fundamental moves would be second nature to the best racers, you will want to complete them as quickly and _accurately_ as possible. Each fault will add a full 2 seconds onto your time. First up, racing as number zero, Ned!"

Ned pulled on the runway and took off for the starting line. His run was quick and seemingly clean so he was proud of himself.

"Nice one, Ned," announced Roper. "But you reversed the loops. It's an _inside_ loop through the _second_ hoop and _outside_ loop through the _third_. That's an extra 4 seconds. Next up, double zero, Zed!"

"Aww! Goddammit!" Exclaimed Ned. "I always get those two confused!"

Zed completed his run with no errors and returned to his brother who was being chewed out.

"What the hell, Ned?! Shit!" Cursed Ripslinger. Knowing the twins were only of average competency in all four evaluated areas of the qualifiers, he paced back and forth to think of a plan. "Good job, Zed, now get ready. We have to tweak the odds to make sure your brother qualifies."

Racers numbers 1 and 2 finished their turns with typical speed and no mistakes, which pushed Ned further down the leaderboard.

"I'm so nervous!" Wheezed the number 3 plane as he taxied for the runway.

Zed nonchalantly pulled up beside him, "Don't worry about it, man. Just go as fast as possible and keep saying to yourself 'Roll, barrel roll, outside, inside. Watch yourself on that Cuban Eight and remember, 'Roll, barrel roll, outside, inside'!"

Number 3 zipped through his run and touched back down on the runway.

"H-how'd I do?" He asked.

"Well, uh, you went through so fast you completely missed the first hoop so going back for it cost you a few seconds," informed Roper. "Then you reversed the loops, it's _inside_ then _outside_!"

"B-b-b-but he said-!" Stammered the number 3 racer as pointed a wing accusatorily at Zed.

"Whoa there, brother!" Interjected Ripslinger. "Zed's been here next to me this whole time and I didn't hear him say anything. Yes, the skill round is tough but don't take it out on poor Zed. Maybe you can make up the time in one of the other rounds."

Number 3 was forced to deal with his horrible time and dejectedly returned to his mark as team RPX snickered amongst themselves. The devious trio pulled a similar trick on the number 4 plane.

"Now, number five! El Chupacabra!" Proclaimed Roper.

"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod! GO EL CHUPACABRA! WHOOOOOO!" Cheered an ecstatic Alexis so loudly the competitor next to her nearly jumped out of his wheels.

"Will you calm down?!" Pleaded Arianna.

"How can I be calm?! Look at him he's so graceful!"

"He hasn't even started yet!"

"How about him, boss?" Asked Ned.

"Nah, better leave La Cucaracha alone for now," Ripslinger responded.

El Chu's run was quick and flawless.

"Dusty?" Beckoned Alexis.

The little orange plane had been so intently focused on the event that he was startled when she called his name.

"Dusty, let's go congratulate EC!"

"You go ahead, Lexi," he said. "I'm about to go on and I want to stay in the zone."

"Come on, please? You have to go with me."

"Why?"

"Because, uh … well … you're so wonderfully awesome you've just got to be good luck or something. So spread the wealth, Scrooge," she excused, pushing him from his mark to go and greet El Chu.

As El Chupacabra returned to his spot Alexis and Dusty were there to meet him.

"Hey, EC! That was dope! You've got mad game fa-sho!" Squealed the stunt plane.

"Yeah, what she said," responded Dusty, completely distracted by the competition.

"Um … gracias?" The Gee Bee inquired, unsure if the words she spoke were even praise at all.

"Up next, the number seven racer and our current 'champ' … Dusty Crophopper!" Roper Exclaimed.

"Go, Dusty!" El Chu and Alexis cried as the crop duster pulled onto the runway.

Dusty was pumped. Not an ounce of fear existed in him. He knew the basics like the back of his propeller. His run was perfect and swift. He even beat El Chu by 2 tenths of a second and now held the number one spot.

So, it continued; racers constantly swapping places as more and more names and scores were added to the leaderboard. Whenever Ned and Zed's names appeared to be getting pushed down too far, Ripslinger would lead them in a plot to covertly sabotage another competitor.

"Next up is, oh god… ," sighed Roper, rolling his eyes as he read the name. "Number twelve … Alexis Tigerfyre."

"Yeah, you know it!" She said as she pulled onto the runway.

"Whatever, girl! Just do the damn thing!"

"Viva, Alexis!" Cheered El Chu.

"This is gonna be so sweet!" Squealed Zed.

"It's her best area!" Said Ned.

"It is," Ripslinger agreed, uninterested. "But wouldn't it be hilarious if she messed up?"

"Give 'em Hell, Alexis!" Yelled Bulldog.

"Go, Lexi!" Shouted Dusty. "Do the Lomcevak!"

Arianna growled loudly from behind him before bending and snapping one of her wrenches in half.

"Or not!" The crop duster timidly revised.

The starting gun fired and Alexis took off like a shot. She burned through the course so instantaneously it appeared that she didn't do the moves at all. The crowd was frozen in awe. The only sound was from Arianna.

"HELL YEAH! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! YOU GO GIRL!" Screamed the little tug.

"What just happened?" Asked Dusty.

"What the hell was that?!" Hollered Roper. "Did you even do anything?!"

"I did everything you said, exactly how you said it!"

"I didn't see any of that!"

"Well, it's a good thing there's cameras!"

The qualifier officials met and reviewed the footage of the stunt plane's run. They had to slow it down to confirm that she did in fact do every segment of the course. She glided through each part so smoothly and effortlessly that it could've been one move as opposed to five.

"Whoo-hoo! I … am … a … BEAST!" Roared Alexis excitedly, dancing around as her name flashed at the top of the leaderboard.

"Alright, alright it wasn't that cool. Now get off the runway!" Roper demanded.

"That is the second time I have seen that and yet it continues to surprise me," said El Chu, still stunned. "I could watch it forever and never cease to be amazed by it."

"What do you mean?" Dusty asked his friend.

"She did the same thing in her first qualifier."

Suddenly, Dusty was filled with questions.


	4. Movie Night

**Songs: _Luna Love_ by Andre 3000 from _Class of 3000_ / _Whoomp! There It Is_ by Tag Team**

* * *

"Yeah, freedom baby!" Laughed Alexis as she pulled up to the boys and Arianna. "Day one and the three of us are at the top! Let's celebrate at my crib."

"It's a little early to be partying," said Arianna. "There's still a lot more competitors to go, not to mention three more rounds."

Alexis scoffed at the tug's cynicism.

"Lexi, what place did you finish in your last Rally?" Questioned Dusty.

"What? That's not important now. Let's go unwind and have some fun!"

The four went back to team 12's hangar. They ate and went over Ari's photographs. Right away, Dusty noticed that only a few gift baskets remained in the girls' hangar and the three boxes were much more full.

"So what's up with all this stuff?" He asked as he approached the boxes. "May I?"

"It's just some presents from my friends. Go ahead," Alexis replied.

Dusty fumbled to get one of the posters out before Arianna was annoyed into helping him. They unrolled it to see what it contained. It was a grandiose poster of Ripslinger in glorious semi-gloss and jotted in the corner in large letters and glittery ink that oozed arrogance was his signature.

"Wow, I hope you didn't pay for this," teased the crop duster.

"As if. He gave it to me," Alexis replied. "I have stuff from all the racers."

Dusty opened another with the tug's help. This one was of Ishani and it was even more magnificent than Rip's, especially to Dusty. He felt his struts get weak as he looked into the eyes on the poster. Across the top was the Indian plane's signature, so graceful and majestic.

"Can I have this?" He sighed hopelessly.

"No," she chuckled. "They give me stuff for free because I always help them out but I'm sure if you gave them something of yours they'd be willing to trade. We do that too sometimes."

"I will gladly trade you one of my posters -," began El Chu.

"Deal!" Exclaimed Alexis excitedly.

"… For this autographed one of Rochelle," he finished.

"What?!"

"Look at her. She is an angel!"

"Yeah … so was Satan, and then he fell," grumbled the stunt plane.

Dusty groaned, "I don't have anything to trade."

Arianna rolled her eyes before responding, "Come on, you. I said I would give you a free photo session."

"Really?" Beamed the little orange plane.

The tug closed the curtains on all sides of the hangar, pulled down the white screen she used as a backdrop, and set up her lights and camera.

While she set up, Dusty stood in front of the screen and tried on different poses as El Chu and Alexis laughed at him.

"Work it, Dusty! Work it!" The Grob 120TP jeered. "Now give me 'angry farm boy'. That's it!"

He glared at them and huffed, "Thank you. That's really distracting."

"Why don't you two wait outside?!" Said Arianna in exasperation as she shoved them out of the hangar. "You're casting shadows!"

Alexis and El Chu stood outside together … alone … and awkwardly silent.

"So … um, thanks for the poster and breakfast," he said at last.

"I … uh … y-you're welcome!" The words struggled to free themselves from Alexis' tightening throat. "But … d-don't forget to give me one of yours."

"Absolutely!"

The pair went back to the competition to check the leaderboard. The round was almost over and Alexis untouchably held the top spot. Dusty and El Chu maintained high positions themselves. Even Rochelle had made it into the top ten, but so had Zed and Ned … somehow.

"Look who it is, boys," said Ripslinger upon catching sight of Alexis and El Chupacabra as they headed back to the competitor's quarters together. "They're probably on a date or something. You'd better go say hello."

The Gee Bee and Grob 120TP strolled along together.

"EC?" Summoned Alexis.

"Yes?"

"It's been fun hanging with you … and Dusty."

"Si, I have been having fun as well, but I had better go put this poster away before it gets damaged."

"Wait! Why don't you come back tonight? We'll watch scary movies."

"Just the two of us?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"

"I'm not so sure-"

"By 'yeah' I meant just the two of us … and Dusty!"

"Well…"

"Come on, you know he'll want you to be there."

"Alright," he sighed.

"Yes!" She squealed.

Just then, Ned and Zed flew overhead singing, "Lex and El Chupacabra parked between the trees…!"

They had to pass by again to finish the song, "F-U-C-K-I-N-G!"

Alexis was mortified.

"Hehe, I don't know why they would say something like that," she chuckled in embarrassment.

"Me either. We are nowhere near trees!" El Chu replied.

"So, see you tonight," she called before furiously taking off after the twins using the ancillary runway. "I'm gonna fucking kill you two!"

"Shit! She's right behind us!" Cried Ned.

"Fly faster!" Panicked Zed.

El Chupacabra watched in horror as she punished the two brothers. She cursed them out, struck them in the air, and even sprayed them with flames. They landed quickly before Alexis could knock, or fry, them out of the sky.

"We're sorry, we're sorry, we're sorry!" Repeated Zed continuously.

"We didn't want to! It was Rip's idea!" Admitted Ned.

"I know," growled Alexis.

She raced to Ripslinger's hangar where he was giving an interview. The ferocious stunt plane didn't care and she shoved the journalists aside to get to him.

"Ripslinger! What the hell was that?!" She snarled.

"No more questions," he said dismissing the press quickly before answering her. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Save it! I know you put Ned and Zed up to that stupid prank. They are not dumb enough to do it on their own because they know I will kill them!"

"Alright, you caught me. I did it," he smiled nonchalantly. "You didn't actually kill them did you, because I need them to move some stuff for me later?"

"It's been all fun and games up till now, Ripslinger, but this … this is serious! From now on, I'm not playing with you anymore!"

She stormed home and as she attempted to go through the curtain to enter her hangar, her nose cone hit Dusty's as he was exiting.

"Ow!" She groaned, wiggling her nose to make sure it was okay.

"Oh, sorry, Lexi," apologized Dusty.

"Yeah, me too."

"So, ready to answer my question now?"

"What question?"

"What place did you finish in the Rally?"

"Nunya, Dusty. I don't want to talk about that," she said in aggravation as she pushed past him and into the hangar. Suddenly, she remembered that she needed Dusty to return tonight if El Chu was going to hang out with her. So, she stuck her nose back outside to address him before he left. "But … if you come back over tonight … I may reconsider…"

Dusty visited with Ishani for a few hours before heading back to his own hangar. On his way there, he passed by Bulldog who was answering reporters' questions and seemingly growing quite bored of it.

"Alright, no more questions! There's Dusty, the current champ! Go bother him!" The Briton grumbled.

"Ahh!" Dusty shrieked at the horde of vehicles heading toward him.

He struggled to answer as many of their inquiries as he could. Fellow racers saw the noisy mob and went out of their way to avoid Dusty. The few who got too close found themselves being chased by crazed journalists as well. Alexis, however, rolled right by and none of them so much as lifted a microphone or snapped a picture. Dusty watched her as she took off from the runway and headed east. Then he was brought back to his predicament of the press.

"No more questions, no more questions!" He pleaded.

"Enough is enough! Back off, the lot of you!" Barked Bulldog as he came to Dusty's rescue.

Finally, the swarm got the message and dwindled away.

"Thank you," the grateful little plane conceded.

"Yeah, well … I got you into the mess besides I believe I owe you one anyway."

"Oh, that's right. Well, maybe you could tell me what's up with that?"

"What?"

"The reporters will hound you, me, and everyone else in a flash but they don't even notice Lexi unless she's just completed a stunt."

"I suppose the racing world is still rather miffed with the poor girl."

"Why?"

"I'm not entirely certain. None of the racers seem to know anything but we figure something must've happened in her last rally because for some reason she didn't complete the race. At first, the news couldn't get enough of her. The world wanted to know how such a promising young candidate could fall so short, but she never gave anyone an answer. So the media started making up its own, saying things like she's all talk and no action. However, I don't believe that for a second."

"Me either."

"Still … it's one thing to boast from the safety of one's own backyard. I'd love to see how effective her style would be out in the rest of the world up against the dangers and challenges of the Rally. After all, we've never had an aerobat in the race before."

"Yeah, but someone has to figure out her real story."

"I guess that's where you come in, lad."

"One more thing; why does Lexi help out her competition so much?"

"Heavens, Dusty, you're worse than the press," the DH.88 joked before answering. "You know, when she first entered the Rally I wondered the same thing. She told me she wasn't interested in winning so I asked her that if she wasn't here to win, what was she doing here at all?"

"And?"

"And … she said that she was here to 'bask in the glow of some truly amazing planes.' While I'm sure she admires us all, I now believe that there is only one plane whose 'glow' she is sincerely interested in."

"Who?"

"Right, ol' chap, as if you didn't know. Good evening, Mister Crophopper."

Dusty thanked Bulldog again before the two planes went their separate ways. He'd been keeping an eye on the sky since Alexis' departure so he could see when she returned. She wasn't back yet so he still had time. He went back to the main runway where the WATG official tugs were clearing the day's course and setting up the one for the second round tomorrow as Roper supervised it all.

"Roper, I need to ask you something," stated Dusty.

"Well, if it isn't our 'champ'," said the head tug sarcastically.

"You're much tougher on Alexis than everyone else."

"So?"

"So, I think you know something about what happened the year before last. What place did she take?"

"She didn't place at all. I had to disqualify her."

"Why?"

"Why? You want to know why?! Because she didn't run the race, that's why! She didn't even try, man! I have never been so disappointed in someone in my whole life!"

"What happened?"

"The starting gun went off and everyone took to the skies, Alexis included. In fact, she was nearly in front but as all the racers started across the Atlantic she turned around and came back. I asked her what was wrong but she didn't answer. She seemed to be in shock and when she finally came out of it all she said was 'First one back to New York wins right?' I can't believe that girl!"

It was getting dark. Surely, Alexis had returned by now so Dusty headed to her hangar. All the information he had collected was useful in that it brought him up to speed but Alexis was still a plane shrouded in mystery. It seemed like everyone believed that she was destined to be the world's next racing legend, but they were frustrated that it hadn't happened already. Part of Dusty wondered why he even cared. Sure, she was his friend but she was also his competition and if there was something handicapping her shouldn't he be pleased about it? At the same time, watching her fly was captivating. He understood, and even shared, Bulldog's desire to see her let loose against the grueling odds of the Rally. To race freed from Roper's oppressive rules, Arianna's strange overprotectiveness, and Alexis' own disturbing desire to be on Ripslinger's good side. What made it so enticing was that no one could tell what she was going to do next but you just had a feeling that somehow she would make it through anything. Unfortunately, it had become apparent that the only way he was going to know for sure what was troubling her was if Alexis told him herself … and she wasn't talking.

When he returned to team 12's hangar Alexis and El Chu were waiting for him.

"'Bout time, Crophopper!" The stunt plane teased. "Where ya been?"

"Just trying to trade for something good," he answered with a smile.

"Well, come on. We're gonna watch _Snakes on an Aircraft Carrier_."

"That sounds stupid," said Dusty as he settled in front of the TV next to El Chu.

"It is!"

Alexis got all the snacks prepared and started the movie. She pulled up next to the crop duster and whispered, "Hey, Dusty, can I park next to you?"

He was a bit confused since she was already beside him but being rather certain of her feelings, he chuckled, "Yeah, sure. I'd be hurt if you didn't."

"Thanks, bro," she replied before coming around and squeezing herself between Dusty and El Chu.

The boys had to move apart to make room for her, which created some brief awkwardness as 'bubbles' of personal space were popped and comfort zones were forced to expand. Dusty had never been _this_ close to a female plane before. It was nice. Alexis was far from feminine but no matter how she behaved, she was still a girl as far as Dusty's biology was concerned. Though he wasn't into her like that, he still enjoyed the 'Me Tarzan, you Jane' kind of feeling her being against him produced. At the very least, it was better than being next to another dude. From beside El Chupacabra it was hard for Alexis to focus on the movie. He smelled so good! Was he wearing Axe-celerate or Air Spice? Whichever it was, it neutralized the smell of Vita-minamulch Dusty was emitting. The Gee Bee was so clean. His tires were polished and his cape was ironed. Damn! Why was he so fine?

As she admired him, unbeknownst to her, a well-known phrase escaped her lips, "Uh … I … uh …"

"You what?" Asked El Chu.

"I … uh," she replied, anxiously looking around for an excuse once she realized she had been speaking aloud. When she looked at the TV a familiar scene was approaching. "I … I've had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking aircraft carrier!"

Dusty and El Chupacabra stared at her for a moment in absolute shock before the actor in the movie said the exact same thing.

"Oh! It's a line from the movie!" Laughed Dusty. "That's pretty funny."

"Of course it's a line from the movie," Alexis concealed in relief. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

"I wasn't sure for a moment," he replied.

El Chu simply chuckled a bit tensely.

_Snakes on an Aircraft Carrier _was a horribly cheesy film as was the other two movies they watched. So, the night was filled with laughter as the three friends critiqued and offered their personal commentaries on the bad flicks. It was nearly 2 in the morning when the last one ended.

"That was … great fun! I am glad I came," beamed El Chu. "Alas, I really should be getting to bed."

"Same here," Dusty yawned. "Thanks for a fun time, Lexi."

El Chu left first and as Dusty exited Alexis stopped him.

"Dusty, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh, sure."

"There's something I need to tell you."

Here it was, the moment Dusty had been expecting. After all the gifts, the flirting, and the compliments she was finally going to tell him what he was sure he already knew. So to spare her feelings he spoke first.

"Look, Alexis, you're really cool and all but now isn't the best time for me to get into a relationship. I need to focus on my racing career and besides I'm kind of interested in someone else. I hope we can still be friends."

"What?"

"Weren't you about to admit to me how much you like me and ask me to date you?"

"Um … no. I was going to tell you that I really dig EC and ask you if he's said anything about me."

Dusty was dumbfounded, "But Bulldog said … and the card and flower … and in there you were totally … alright, forget everything I just said."

"That's going to be really hard," she snickered.

"Don't laugh. That's so embarrassing."

"I know but I can't help it!" The stunt plane replied before laughing uncontrollably.

It took a few moments before she could get a hold of herself. Meanwhile, El Chupacabra turned to see if Dusty was still behind him and witnessed the two planes laughing together. With a smile he left to give them some privacy.

"I can definitely see how you came to that conclusion though," said Alexis. "I was sort of using you to get close to EC and I want to apologize."

"It's okay," answered Dusty. "Now that I know how much you like him maybe I could even help."

"Thanks, Dusty, for being so cool."

"If you really wanted to thank me you could tell me why you didn't actually race in your first Rally. You said you might reconsider if I came over to watch movies."

"I considered reconsidering and then I realized that it's nunya so-"

"So 'don't worry about it'?"

"Right! Oh, I thought of a way you can help me with EC though. You can do me a solid."

"A solid is a favor," remembered Dusty aloud. "I can do you a solid."

"Great! I need you to tell EC something," she sighed in infatuation before singing,

_Te quiero. Mi quieres?_

_Te adoro. I confess;_

_I love you. Do you love me?_

_I adore you, can't you see?_

"Whoa, that was beautiful. You speak Spanish?"

"A little bit. I've been learning it for EC. So will you tell him?"

"Uh … I don't speak Spanish very well so I don't think it will be as nice coming from me."

"Please?" She begged, putting on her most pathetic and desperate face.

"Alright, I'll do it," he sighed reluctantly. "So, breakfast in the morning?"

"Fa-sho!"

"Fa-sho?"

"It's 'for sure'," Alexis giggled, shaking her nose at the hopeless little plane. "Goodnight, Dusty."

"Peace!" He chuckled back, which made her laugh even harder.

She held the curtain open for him as he left.

Despite being up late the previous night, Alexis was awake at the crack of dawn again. Per usual, she flew to the beach and watched the sunrise as the other competitors slept. Then she returned to shoot the breeze with Bulldog who, as customary, was in front of his hangar waiting for her. He sipped his hot oil as _Prelude Op. 28, No. 15_ played on his radio in the background. Unbeknownst to Alexis, Dusty had awoken at her return and watched her visit the Briton.

"Ooh, Chopin?" Asked Alexis as she approached Bulldog.

"Why, yes!" He confirmed in astonishment. "You know Chopin?"

"Not personally, no, but I do enjoy his music."

"Very funny. I thought you only listened to hippity-hop."

"Man, I listen to a bit of everything, but whereas I'm not smart enough to turn my thoughts and feelings into beautiful pianistic pieces like Chopin, 'hippity-hop' provides me with a fun outlet to express myself. After all, anyone can talk to music."

"I will admit I enjoyed the beat during you and Ripslinger's folly. I even practiced since then."

"Oh yeah? Show me."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly. We don't have the music."

"I'll lead you in. Just listen to the tempo of my piece, then copy it."

She cleared her throat before finding a rhythm and starting to rap,

_Tigerfyre's, back again  
Check it to wreck it, let's begin  
Party on party people, let me hear some noise  
Lexi's in the house, jump, jump rejoice  
There's a party over here  
A party over there  
Raise your wings in the air  
Shake your derriere  
These four words mean you're gettin' busy  
'Whoomp, there it is'  
Hit me_

Bulldog followed right behind her, rhyming in his refined British articulation.

_Upside down and inside out  
I'm about to show all you blokes  
what's it's all about  
Now it's time for the dog to get on the mic  
and make this bloomin' party hype  
I'm taking it back to the old school  
cause I'm an old fool who's so cool  
If you want to get brill  
I'll show you the way, 'whoomp there it is'  
let me hear you say_

Alexis was stupefied … and so was Dusty.

"B-dog! That was amazing!" The stunt plane cheered before mimicking his accent, "It's 'Proper Rap' by Bulldog!"

"Are you … making fun of me?" The DH.88 questioned.

"No, B-dog. I love it! It's so classy sounding. You need to release a CD and when you do I want 10 copies."

"That was smashing!" He laughed. "And fun too."

"Oh, scrap! What time is it?! I need to go make breakfast. Later, Emcee B-dog!" She chuckled before racing away.

Dusty couldn't help chuckling to himself. It seemed that Alexis was even welcome in the company of the conservative, old British plane. In fact, her blithe vibes even appeared to change him. It was a good hour or so before the crop duster was finally able to get the hilarity of the whole scene out of his head, during which time he ran errands such as mailing his friends back home a postcard or two. The sun was well risen when he returned and woke El Chupacabra. As the pair made their way to Alexis' hangar for breakfast, they conversed about what had occurred the previous night.

"So … congratulations, compadre!" Smiled El Chu.

"Thanks. For what exactly?" Asked Dusty in confusion.

"For wooing Alexis! I saw you two together last night. Women love a man that can make them laugh and you had her ready to collapse."

"Yeah, she was laughing alright. I'm sure she thinks I'm a big mouthed idiot," he sighed, recalling the incident and the shame. "Oh wait, that reminds me." Dusty cleared his throat and turned to face El Chupacabra directly. "Te quiero. Mi quieres? Te adoro. I confess; I love you. Do you love me? I adore you, can't you see?"

Afterwards he smiled grandly at his Mexican friend, knowing his Spanish sounded awful under the influence of his slight Minnesota accent but proud that he managed to get out the tricky, foreign words. El Chupacabra stared blankly at him for a moment then took a step back.

"What's wrong?" Dusty asked.

"Dusty, we are amigos. No?" El Chupacabra inquired.

"Yes."

"One could even say very good amigos, right?"

"Right."

"So as one good amigo to another, if you ever say anything like that to me again we will not be amigos anymore."

"What? I didn't mean to offend you. It was supposed to be romantic."

"From a fine senorita, yes! From you, not so much!"

"But it's not from me! Last night, Alexis asked me to give you this message! She doesn't like me, she likes you!"

The melodramatic Mexican stopped dead in his tracks, eyes wide with surprise.

"What's wrong now?" Inquired the crop duster.

"I was afraid of that," El Chu replied, aghast.

"Why?"

"Because … I … just do not feel that we would make a good couple. Besides, Rochelle and I-"

"Compadre, Rochelle is over. She only wanted you for all the things you did for her. Then she told you the relationship had run its course."

"Si, but I still enjoy the chase."

"So chase Alexis."

"Estas loco?!"

"What?! It should be interesting!"

"If by 'interesting' you mean suicidal!"

"How so?"

"Uno, I cannot date her because she is so very … unladylike. Women are supposed to be gentle, elegant, and fragile creatures that make men look all the more macho in comparison. They are not supposed to curse, belch, rap, talk in slang, or any of those things. Dos, I cannot tell her that because she is also very fierce and forceful."

"Since when?! What do you think she's going to do?"

"She might beat me into scrap metal or roast me with her flamethrowers like she did Ned and Zed yesterday. Last night, she was staring at me all night long with this hungry look in her eyes. When she jumped up and shouted that line from the movie, I thought for certain that she was going to kill us."

Dusty struggled to no avail to hold back his laughter, "You're being ridiculous!"

"I'll have you know in her first Rally she threatened and cursed out Ripslinger for calling me La Cucaracha."

"So? That means she respects you and cares enough about you to make sure others do the same. I wish she'd been there every time someone purposely botched my name. Also, she's made us breakfast two mornings in a row! Did Rochelle ever do that?"

"No," El Chu muttered. "But I am sure if she had it would have been exquisite."

They entered team 12's hangar.

* * *

**Before anyone starts forming an angry mob about Bulldog being out of character, I prefer to think of it as 'breaking the stereotype'. He's a snooty British guy who has the accent, wears the Union Jack, and drinks tea. In other words, he has NOTHING else going for him. By making him enjoy rap a bit, I've made him unique.**


	5. The Second Round: Endurance

**Still no reviews?! ARRRRRRGH! Is that good or bad?! What do I have to do ... beg?!**

***sits up on hind legs and whines***

**The ****_posting_**** of this chapter is dedicated to t0buscusfan6161 and quasarsmom. I appreciate your favs.**

* * *

"Good morning, Alexi-anna," greeted Dusty, revising his statement upon seeing only the tug was home.

"You can just call me Arianna," teased the forklift as she finished organizing the hangar. "Your food is on the table."

"Seriously, she's not here again? Where could she be?"

"I don't know but I need her to come back before today's round starts so I can check her engine."

"You sure do worry about her engine a lot, Arianna. What's wrong with it?"

"You sure are awfully nosy, Dusty. Eat your breakfast!"

The boys approached the trays of hot Gask-its and cold Nitroade. Today, 'EC' was drizzled upon El Chu's in strawberry flavored TigerFyre brand engine oil, and on Dusty's was written 'Twerp'. Just like before, El Chu's tray contained a flower and a card.

"What's it say?" Asked Dusty, taking a bite of a Gask-it.

"Now that I know it's for me I'm afraid to find out," replied the Gee Bee.

"Don't be silly," the crop duster said before taking the card and reading it himself. "Dear El Chupacabra, I'm going to get you for what you said about me. First, I'm going to rip off your propeller and use it to carve you up like a-"

El Chu gasped loudly and had suddenly become quite pale, eyes wide with concern.

"Will you relax?! I'm only kidding! It doesn't say any of that!" Yelled Dusty. "It simply says 'Good morning, Sunshine.' And it's signed 'Lexi'."

"Oh, thank goodness," El Chu sighed in relief.

Just then, Alexis swooped into the hangar with all the destructive force of a tornado. She was covered in mud and had managed to get it everywhere in seconds.

"Ta-da! See, Ari? I told you I'd be right back."

"Lexi, where have you been?" Questioned Dusty about the filth.

"Oh, the ancillary runway has this huge mud puddle at the end of it. Ned and Zed suggested we use it like a giant Slip 'n' Slide! It was glorious!"

"No! Bad plane! Stupid plane! Get out!" Exclaimed Arianna about the mess Alexis had just made and furiously shoving her back out of the hangar. "Go get cleaned up!"

Dusty laughed hysterically at the tiny tug's outburst.

"You know, Dusty, you're not too cute for me to still kick your ailerons," Arianna warned as she started to clean the hangar … again. "It's bad enough I have to deal with your grime, manure boy."

"Me? You think _I_ stink?"

"'Like fresh fertilizer on a field of dying grass'," mocked El Chu.

The forklift and Gee Bee erupted in laughter themselves.

"Okay, then I guess I'll hit the wash too," replied the crop duster good-naturedly before leaving.

The plane wash was an outdoor area divided into six large bays, each equipped with a shower and privacy curtain. When Dusty got to the showers, all the stalls were occupied.

"Alexis?! It's Dusty, are you in here?!" He asked.

"Uh … yeah! Over here!" She answered thinking it a bit odd that he was looking for her in the shower.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to look," he teased. "I just need the stall when you're done."

"If all the others are taken why don't you hop in with me?" She replied.

Dusty was floored that she asked him that. He had a long list of reasons not to shower with Alexis, so he couldn't understand why 'yes' had shot out of his mouth before he even had a chance to think about them.

"Well, come on in. The water's fine," she laughed.

Dusty prepared to pull back the curtain so he could go in, but for some strange reason he just couldn't do it.

"You know what, maybe some other time. There are a lot of other planes around," he reneged.

"Of course there are other planes around. Why would I shower with you if there were no other planes around?" Alexis asked. "Be cool, Dusty. It's just a shower not the start of a porno, you pervert!"

"I didn't mean it like that," Dusty groaned.

They were quiet for a while.

Dusty was the first to break the silence, "So, thanks for breakfast this morning. I didn't really see mine so I ate Twerp's, I hope that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine," Alexis mocked. "He's just some punk crop duster. He's not going to do anything about it."

The two planes chuckled at one another's teasing.

"I didn't want to say anything in front of Arianna but a giant mud slide actually sounds kind of fun."

"It wasn't 'kind of fun'. It was EPIC fun!"

"Well, why didn't you invite me and El Chu?"

"Because I didn't know where we were going until we got there. Besides, you guys hate Ned and Zed and they hate you. If you want though, we can hit it after I spank you in today's round."

"Spank me?"

Alexis came out of the stall, water rolling alluringly down her fuselage, "All yours. Later, bro."

Back in her hangar, Arianna was waiting impatiently when Alexis finally returned.

"About time! The second round starts in 30 minutes! Get over here," the mechanic quickly opened Alexis' engine cowl and tested various components.

"I don't know what you're so concerned about. I've passed the qualifiers before, and quite easily I might add," said the stunt plane as she was examined.

"That was different. You didn't have this engine before. Okay, now start it."

Alexis attempted to start her engine. It took a while but it finally turned over.

"See? It runs like a dream," chuckled Alexis nervously before it stalled out. "Uh, maybe we'll get lucky and today's round will be speed or navigation. Anything except -"

"ENDURANCE!" Revealed Roper over the megaphone as the event began. "Today's round is endurance!"

"Fuuuuuck meeeee!" Cursed Alexis at the announcement from where she waited at her team mark beside the runway.

"No, no, no, NO!" Arianna cried, repeatedly ramming herself into a nearby wall in panic. "That's it's we're through!"

"Okay, I have an idea. I'll just keep my engine running the whole time, then we won't have to worry about restarting it."

"No, you'd run out of gas before you even began, or worse, mid-run."

"Alright … um … we'll … we'll fill up my tank and then I'll start early, like before number 10 is done."

"Before we kick off today's round I have an announcement to make. I'm actually a little surprised I have to make it because I shouldn't have to tell 50 _adult_ planes something like this. Apparently, there is a large mud puddle at the end of the ancillary runway and if everyone could stay away from it that would be appreciated," Roper's glare shifted to Alexis for a moment.

The stunt plane purposely avoided eye contact.

He continued, "Anyway, in today's round you will have to fly in a circle through the two hoops here and the two at the far end of the runway 100 times to test your endurance. A common strategy is to pace yourself but remember; ultimately, it is your final time that counts. So, be quick, especially those of you who did poorly in the first round. Because everyone's run will take a good amount of time, we will be testing on both runways to speed things up. Odd team numbers on the main runway with evens on the ancillary runway. However, we still may not get through everyone today. If everybody has not had a chance to race by midnight tonight, we will finish up at 10 AM tomorrow. Pay attention to this next part; if you cannot finish _all_ 100 laps you WILL be disqualified!"

Alexis made her way to the ancillary runway with the other even-numbered competitors.

"What are you doing, Alexis?" Arianna asked. "The game is over. That engine of yours will never make it 100 laps."

"I think I can do it. I have to at least try," Alexis replied resolutely.

The second round was as grueling as it was time-consuming. There were quite a few competitors who just couldn't finish 100 laps and many of those who could had to do it at a slow pace. All of the entrants were exhausted after their turns and grateful to be done with it.

"Gracious!" Exclaimed Bulldog at the sight of the miserable participants. "I've never been so happy to be excluded from something."

"I do not like the new qualifiers," panted El Chu. "It is more difficult than it used to be and it is much more difficult than indoor racing."

"I know what you mean," gasped Dusty. "I don't think the actual Rally was this hard."

"I'm so tired! I'm dying!" Whined Ned from where he was slumped on the ground.

"That was tough! We need water, Boss!" Cried Zed, sprawled next to his brother.

"Get up, you babies!" Demanded Ripslinger, completely unsympathetic.

The number ten racer was almost finished when Alexis attempted to start her engine.

"Come on, come on … start," she begged her old engine as it struggled to turn over. The few times it did, it died right away.

"Next up, number twelve, Alexis Tigerfyre!" Annouced the WATG official tug who was handling the testing on the ancillary runway for Roper.

Alexis rolled onto the runway, but still was unable to get her engine running.

"Let me try some things!" Panicked Arianna, racing up to Alexis, opening her cowl, and diving into her engine with her tools.

"Um … Miss Tigerfyre? It's your turn," said the official who was much more patient than Roper.

"Just give us a minute, dammit!" Snapped Arianna as she worked as fast as she could to get Alexis ready.

"Uh … okay," replied the official meekly.

The engine continued to stall out whenever it actually started at all.

Arianna threw down her tools angrily before storming off in frustration, "Damn it all!"

"Ari, wait!" Puffed Alexis as a wave of sorrow washed over her. "No, no … it can't end like this!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Tigerfyre we can't wait any longer," spoke the official. "We have a lot of other competitors to get through. I'll let you try again after everyone else finishes."

Alexis sadly taxied from the runway back to her spot. After Dusty and El Chu caught their second wind, they came over from the main runway testing area to check on Alexis' status.

"Lexi! Are you done already? You must've really been soaring!" Said Dusty.

"Not exactly," she replied. "I have to wait until the end to go."

"Why? What happened?"

Alexis could feel the anger rising up out of her sadness. Then she growled, "Dammit, Dusty! I'm not in the mood for all your questions right now!"

"Okay! Okay, I'm sorry. We'll talk to you later," he replied in surprise before leaving.

El Chu quickly followed his friend.

"What is her problem?" He asked.

"I don't know, but I hope she's okay," the crop duster answered. "You know, it'd probably make her feel better if you'd go and talk to her."

"No no no no no no! She is very upset and I do not want to get my ailerons 'kicked'."

"She's not going to kick your ailerons. She adores your ailerons. I still think you two would make a handsome couple."

"No! She is not the one for me!"

"What makes you so certain?"

"When I fall in love everything will be perfect," explained El Chu. "There will be music playing. The birds will be singing. The woman … she will be flawless and complement me in every way. Every time I see her, it will be like a sunrise after a lifetime of darkness. When I am with Alexis I do not feel any of that."

"That's because this is real life, not some Disney movie!" Reprimanded Dusty. "Real love isn't like that. You won't know whether she is right for you or not unless you give it a try. She could be the best thing that ever happened to you and you'll learn to love her."

"'Learn to love her'?"

"I mean that the more time you spend together getting to know each other, the more she will grow on you."

"What do you want me to do? Pretend to like her back?"

"No, it's not pretend. Think about the things you _do_ like about her and when you're together focus on that. She's a good friend."

"You are right, compadre. She is a good friend. Oh, scrap! Here she comes!" Shrieked El Chu before diving into the nearest hangar, which happened to be Dusty's, and then drawing the privacy curtains.

"Hey, Dusty! I'm so glad I caught you," panted Alexi as she raced up to him. "But … I could've sworn I saw EC over here with you."

"Uh … no, he had to … go iron his cape. Sorry," the crop duster fibbed for his friend.

"Oh. I just wanted to apologize for yelling at you two before. I was stressed about something but I shouldn't have taken it out on you guys. I'm sorry. Will you tell EC that if you see him?"

"It's okay, and yeah I will."

Alexis turned to leave so she could go find Arianna.

"Lexi, wait!" Called Dusty. "I don't mean to annoy you with all my questions. It's just … you're such an interesting individual and every time I hang out with you, you teach me something new."

"Thanks, bro. I wish EC was that interested in getting to know me."

"I've been talking with him lately and … well … why do you like him so much?"

"Well, … he's handsome. He's funny, friendly, smart, and I like his accent," the stunt plane sighed in pure reverie as she thought about her obsession. "But most of all, I love his generosity. I used to be very shy and reserved … but just thinking about El Chupacabra inspires me to reach out and help others everyday. I've never been so happy or had so many friends before."

"Oh?" The crop duster asked for more elaboration as the depth of her feelings surprised him.

"Yeah, he's always so clean and composed, especially in his dealings with others. He seems like a guy who's really got his shit together … and he makes me feel like if I could just spend enough time with him, I could get my life together too. Like I could be cool like him."

"Are we talking about the same guy?"

Alexis chuckled before replying, "I got to bounce. I'll catch you later."

After she was gone, Dusty signaled for El Chu to come out, "Alright, the coast is clear."

"Gracias, mi amigo," thanked El Chu.

"Did you hear all the things she just said about you?" Questioned Dusty, still in awe of Alexis' passion for the Mexican racer.

"Not really," El Chupacabra confessed. "Rochelle finished her run and was just getting out of the shower. You have a great view of her hangar from the back of yours."

"You're telling me you didn't catch any of that?! You're incorrigible."

"I think Ishani's in the shower too."

"Don't change the subj- Are you serious?" Dusty queried quickly.

Meanwhile, Alexis found Arianna packing up her stuff in their hangar.

Alexis swiftly rushed up to the tug, "Ari, we can't go yet. They're going to let me try again after everyone else finishes so I need you to help get me running before then."

"There's no use, Lexi. The engine's junk," Arianna calmly replied, doing an excellent job of keeping her own disappointment and frustration buried deep.

"Hey! Do NOT talk about my grandfather's engine that way!" Alexis roared, not as good at controlling her emotions as her older friend.

"I'm sorry. To be as old as it is it's a really great engine, but it's not going to be able to maintain a high speed for 100 laps."

"Just try! It's our last chance and we can't just throw it away because we're afraid of what might happen. My grandfather took great care of it, so I believe in this engine. I believe in my ability to find a way through any obstacle, and I believe … you are the world's greatest mechanic! We can do this. What have we got to lose? Sure, it might be a little embarrassing if we mess up but I don't care what they think."

The little tug was starting to feel fired up from her best friend's pep talk, "Well then, neither do I."

Arianna began to tinker with the engine again for an hour or so, but to no benefit.

"No disrespect to your grandfather, but I'm going to need new parts to get this heap running consistently," the mechanic sighed. "It's mainly the compressor. If we could get another one, the other components should be able to hold up."

"We can't afford new parts," replied Alexis.

"There's one way we can get new parts … super cheap. I have connections," responded the tug as she used Alexis' SkyPhone to make a call. "Alright, let's go!"

As the sun began to set, Alexis followed Arianna into the city. The pair passed by quite a few parts shops and at each one, Alexis tried to check their prices from the window. Unfortunately, new plane parts were always upwards of several thousand dollars. The stunt plane was curious. What 'connections' could her pal possibly have that could get them cheap new parts? Her thoughts were interrupted as they reached their destination.

"This is the place," said Arianna.

The two friends stood before the open gate of an enormous graveyard.

Alexis was horrified, "_This_ is the place?! This is a cemetery! Arianna, NO! Dead guy parts do not count as 'new'!"

"But they are super cheap. Now keep your voice down."

"It's still light out! People can see us!"

"Then stop acting suspicious," whispered the tug as she nonchalantly entered the gates.

Alexis reluctantly followed her friend into the graveyard, "This is so wrong."

"Why? They're not using the parts anymore. Look, there's the aircraft section."

"They're not 'sections'! This isn't Walmart you know!"

"I know … it's better, no lines," the tug teased.

"That's not funny. We are going to get so cursed."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. There he is!"

Waiting in the area designated for departed planes was a large black and white male tug with silver trimming and cold, gray eyes that never seemed to open more than halfway. They were framed on his pale face with thick black eyeliner. His entire body was coated in dirt.

"Alexis, this is my friend, Onyx. He works here as a professional gravedigger," Arianna introduced. "Onyx … Alexis."

"So, this is the one? Grob G 120TP, huh?" He droned, approaching Alexis for a closer look.

"Please don't touch me," whined the stunt plane as she took a step back, thoroughly creeped out.

"Whatever," Onyx countered. "I don't have any complete Rolls Royce M250 engines. Business is too good for that."

"That's okay," Arianna replied. "If we could just get a functional compressor."

"Yeah, I picked one out for you."

He led the girls to an open grave.

"Stanley Blitzwing," recited Alexis as she read the tombstone's epitaph. "1984 – 2012. 'I'm just resting my eyes'?"

"Yeah, Stanley's a funny guy, right? There's a dude over in block E, his tombstone says 'Connection reset by peer'. Hilarious," laughed the dark tug as they gathered around the hole. "Alright, ladies. Try to act like you're paying your respects."

Arianna bowed while Alexis pretended to sob and wail dramatically.

"Seriously, Lexi?" Arianna whispered.

"No, that's good," chuckled Onyx as he used the lowering device to lift the metal casket from the tomb. "Keep it up."

When it was fully raised, he hauled the coffin to the side. It had a heavy-duty industrial lock upon it.

"Why the lock?" Asked Alexis.

"To prevent grave robbing of course," Onyx replied. "Nowadays, cemeteries are more like storage lots. When someone dies, if their body is recovered, we dismantle them and put all the parts in a locked box. That way if the family ever needs anything they can come get it. Still, some families like to have their relatives buried though. They think it's extra protection against thieves."

"Apparently not when the thieves work here and have access to the keys," scoffed the stunt plane.

"Do you want the compressor or not?"

"We want it! We want it. Lexi, behave," chided Arianna.

Onyx unlocked Stanley's casket and located the remnants of his engine. The tug withdrew his tools and in a matter of minutes had extracted the deceased plane's compressor.

"Here we are. For you, girls … it'll be two grand for the part."

"What?! We don't even know if it works," challenged Alexis.

Onyx chuckled smugly, "Oh, it works. I had to dismantle Stan myself, and his cause of death; corrosion of the CPU. His engine components are more or less immaculate."

"Come on, Lexi. Do you have any idea how much a new one costs? I thought you wanted to qualify," Arianna reminded.

"Fine!" Alexis huffed.

While Arianna used her SkyPad to transfer the money to Onyx's account, Alexis turned to the tombstone, "Corroded CPU, huh? I'm sorry to hear that. Mr. Blitzwing, I promise I will bring your compressor back after the Rally. Please don't curse or haunt me."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! No refunds!" Interrupted the gravedigger.

"Listen, you little freak!" Ordered the annoyed stunt plane as she got in the tug's face. "I'm going to return that compressor and when I do, you'd better give me every last cent of my money back or I will have cops bust you and your whole little operation here so hard, that you'll wish you were in that box instead of Stanley!"

Onyx seemed a bit shaken as he replied, "Alright."

"Thank you so much, Onyx," said Arianna as she pushed Alexis, who was still glaring at him, backwards out of the cemetery. "I know it's hard to tell but Alexis is grateful too."

Once back at their hangar, Arianna installed the new part and they tested the engine incessantly for hours.

"It seems to run well now. I mean, it still stalls out at random times occasionally, but I can restart it right away and I know how to recover from sudden loses in speed and altitude. I think I can do this!" Said Alexis excitedly.

The girls returned to the ancillary runway to see if the rest of the competitors were done. Roper had finished testing the odd numbered contestants and was now monitoring as the rest of the evens completed their turns. It was nearly 11 PM but the runway was super bright with the powerful stadium lights illuminating the entire area. Even the hoop obstacles glowed bright red to help the planes see them better in the night.

"Alright, that's enough. We'll finish the rest tomorrow," Said a tired Roper.

"Wait!" Called Alexis. "I still need to go!"

"You're number twelve, girl! You should have been gone!"

"I had some engine trouble. Come on, Roper, please?"

"You can go tomorrow with the rest of the entrants who haven't been tested yet."

"No, it has to be tonight!"

"Why?!"

"Because, now there are no other competitors around to see you being nice to me for once. Please, Roper? Please, please, please?!"

"Ugh! Fine, hurry up!" He reluctantly conceded. "I can't be up all night!"

Alexis pulled onto the runway and started her engine. She revved it a few times before taking off. Knowing she had a long way to go, she picked up the pace pushing herself a little faster each lap. She was almost at top speed when her engine gave out!

"Shit," Arianna cursed under her breath, knowing her friend had the situation under control but still hating to see it happen anyway.

"Oh no," said Roper to himself unsure if she was truly in jeopardy or if it was another one of her tricks.

Alexis purposely allowed herself to go into a nosedive as she restarted her engine and used the speed generated from the free fall to regain lift.

After sighing in relief at her recovery, Roper yelled, "Stop playing around, Alexis!"

"No, Roper, she has to do that to recover from stalling," informed the little orange tug.

It was many laps after her first stall before the next. She was growing bored and hoping to hurry things along. That first time was probably a fluke. Surely it wouldn't happen again if she went a _little_ bit faster. She gradually increased speed with each successive lap when suddenly the engine died again! The agile stunt plane performed her rescue tactic and after that, she struggled to maintain a steady, consistent speed for every time she tried to push herself faster, the engine would quit.

Arianna paced nervously back and forth on the ground. She knew that each engine failure created more wear and tear on her engine as a whole and would make further repairing it nearly impossible. As Alexis entered into her 88th lap, the old engine began to overheat but she ignored it for as long as she could. In about her 94th lap, it started to smoke.

"Alexis! Land now!" Demanded Roper. "You are going to get yourself killed!"

"Come on, Gramps … Stanley. We can do this. Just a little bit further, guys," she strained.

Every available WATG emergency vehicle raced to the scene but there was nothing they could do with her still in the air. In her 99th lap, the engine was smoking so profusely Alexis could hardly see through it. As she turned into the final stretch the engine died again but this time it was far too hot to restart. Alexis adjusted her flaps in a super desperate attempt to glide the remaining distance. However, she was losing too much altitude and at the rate she was travelling she wasn't going to be able to clear the finishing hoop. The few watching sighed in disappointment. There was no way for her to regain enough height to pass through the hoop. It was all over. Even Arianna's lifts dropped to the ground, heavy with rising despair. It seemed hopeless … and yet, Alexis felt she had to do something … something other than fail. The hoops were perched upon long poles with weighted bases that were still rather light. The design was much like that of a tall lamp and therefore it was something quite easy to knock over. Suddenly, she had an idea. As she approached the finishing hoop she flew past it, hitting it with her wing tip. Off its center of gravity the elevated hoop began to fall. She turned as tight and as quickly as she possibly could and darted through just before it hit the ground!

It was so unbelievable that those who saw it could only scream in amazement, thereby scaring the shit out of those who didn't.

"DID YOU SEE THAT?! DID YOU FUCKING SEE THAT?!" Shouted Arianna as she picked Roper up off the ground and shook him maniacally.

"Get a hold of yourself, woman! I saw it!" He said once she released him. "I saw it … and I still don't believe it."


	6. Alexis and the Blue Stranger

**Thank you for your reviews! They are appreciated, so much so, that here's another chapter for you!**

**You guys have been commenting on the 'realism'. I'm not entirely sure what you mean but I guess you're referring to the more mature way the chars behave. I personally think the characters from Planes are very well designed and I wondered what it would be like if they were removed from the clean and drama-free world of Disney, and put into a 'real' world with cursing, alcohol, sex, death, and etc.**

**Songs:****_ Sign Your Name_**** by Terence Trent D'Arby**

* * *

Safely on the ground, Alexis was exhausted. The fire truck doused her with foam to quickly cool her nearly flaming engine. The two ambulances and about a dozen forklifts treated and fussed over her. She looked to the leaderboard to see her results. With all the planes that had been disqualified that day, Alexis was … second to last in 40th place!

"Aww man!" She complained.

"Well, you did have to go pretty slowly and all that stalling cost you precious time too. Also, I had to fault you 2 seconds for knocking down my hoop," judged Roper as he came over to her. "But other than that … that was incredible!"

The emergency vehicles all blared their horns and sirens in cheers still charged with adrenaline from what they had witnessed.

"You did it! I can't believe you did it!" Praised Arianna, embracing Alexis' landing gear in a hug.

"So, what's wrong with your engine?" Inquired Roper at last, disrupting the jubilant moment with his typical solemnity.

"Nothing. I completed the laps just like everyone else," responded the stunt plane.

"Everyone else didn't constantly stall out the whole time. Alexis, if there is something going on with your engine, I really think you should consider dropping out of the qualifiers."

"Yeah right," she smirked, rolling her eyes.

"I'm serious. The Rally is dangerous, especially for a plane whose engine doesn't work right. What if you were to stall in the mountains or while crossing the oceans? Just think about that."

"Uh, R-Roper, just wait a moment," said Arianna, pulling defensively between the official and her friend.

As the two tugs went back and forth about consequences and whatnot, Alexis suddenly got quite pale and began to hyperventilate. Because the arguing forklifts had the spotlight, it took everyone a while to notice her.

It wasn't until Roper turned to the stunt plane to issue his final warning that he discovered something was wrong.

He was overtaken with a feeling of Déjà vu as he looked at her and asked, "Alexis, are you alright?"

The Grob 120TP blacked out and collapsed upon the runway.

Amongst the sounds of the concerned emergency vehicles rushing to her side and Arianna worriedly screaming her name, Roper's words were the last Alexis could clearly discern before completely losing consciousness, "That's it! I'm doing what I have to do…"

The sun was already up by the time Alexis awoke the next morning. Her eyes focused themselves and she looked around to find that she was in her sleeping quarters inside her hangar. Arianna was fiddling with her camera nearby.

"Good morning, Lexi," said the little tug.

Alexis groggily replied, "Mmmhmm, what happened? The second round, did I pass?"

"Yeah! It was awesome."

"I remember … it feels like it was a dream though. 40th place … feel free to tell me that _was_ a dream."

"Unfortunately, no."

"Shit," said Alexis as she rose up. "Is the third round about to start?"

"No, they still have quite a few racers to finish from yesterday so Roper decided to make today a rest day for everyone who's already completed the second round. The third round is tomorrow."

"What happened after my run? I don't remember coming back to the hangar."

"Well, you sort of passed out."

"What?! In front of everybody?!"

"It was only you, me, the officials, and the emergency vehicles. No other racers were there if that's what you're concerned about."

Alexis started to exit the hanger before Arianna moved to block her, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You need to stay in bed and rest. Your engine must've sustained some serious damage."

"I feel fine," Alexis replied, starting to move around her.

The tug moved to block her again, "Your engine was practically on fire last night. You shouldn't do any flying."

"I'm telling you; I _feel_ fine. If you don't believe me then take a look."

The female plane popped her engine cowl and Arianna peered inside. The old engine was perfectly normal. There were no burn marks, no stretching of the metal from extreme heat, or anything.

"That's … strange," said a stunned Arianna.

"What is?" Asked Alexis.

"There … there's nothing wrong."

"I told you so!"

"I know engines and I know what I saw, Lexi!" The mechanic scolded. "After everything you went through last night, there should definitely be some damage here!"

"Well, there isn't! Do you want me to be damaged?!" Alexis yelled back.

"No, of course not."

"Then what's the problem?"

Meanwhile, Dusty and El Chu attempted to prepare breakfast in the competition grounds' large canteen hangar. It was chaos as the cafeteria tugs did most of the work and the Gee Bee and crop duster just got in the way.

"This will be nice. Us making her breakfast for a change is bound to cheer her up, especially coming from you," said Dusty.

"It is not from me. It is from us," corrected El Chupacabra before addressing one of the tugs. "Can you not slice those thinner?"

"Hey, man!" Barked the tug. "I know what I'm doin'!"

"I know but it'll mean more to her coming from you than from me," replied Dusty.

"I do not want it to 'mean more'," El Chu said. "Dusty, you should start sautéing those."

"I'm not going to lie; I don't know what that means. But that's okay, amigo, because I've got my wings full enough over here," the crop duster responded as he simply watched a pot of water boil.

"Move aside, kid, I got it!" Grumbled another one of the tugs.

Dusty quickly stepped aside to let the tug take over before resuming his conversation with El Chu, "You know, she really likes you and I think you should at least give her a chance, but if you really feel like you two are not compatible you need to just come out and tell her. I mean tell her the complete truth. You can't keep ducking into my hangar forever."

"I _will_ tell her," declared El Chu.

"Good, so you will tell her _today_ … at breakfast," added the little orange plane.

"Yes, of course."

The two planes each balanced a serving tray of food on their wings as they taxied to the team 12 hangar.

"Morning, ladies!" Beamed Dusty as he came in and set his tray on the table.

El Chu followed him in and did the same.

"Just me again, boys," responded Arianna. "Wow, you guys brought your own breakfast this morning. About time too, I was wondering how long you were going to let Lexi feed you that junk food."

"Actually, we made this for you girls," said El Chu. "It is mixed berry flavored grease-packed bearings with whipped cream, a side of sautéed o-rings, and top shelf synthetic coolant mimosas."

Arianna was speechless as she approached the table, "Oh, gosh. That sounds … divine."

"So, donde esta Senorita Alexis?"

The tug shrugged before diving into the chow.

"I think I have an idea of where she might be," answered Dusty. "I'll bring her back."

Dusty used the now empty ancillary runway to get airborne before heading east. As low as he flew, it was easy for him to spot her as he soared over a stretch of nearby beach. She was all alone.

"Lexi?!" He called down to her, but she didn't answer.

There was no runway for him to make a landing but fortunately enough, the boardwalk was mostly empty this early in the morning. Dusty decided to try it. He flew around again to line himself up, then slowly descended until he touched down on the long concrete path. He applied the brake hard but it still took a few for him to slow to a stop.

"What are you?! Crazy?!" Screamed one car as they swerved and narrowly avoided being struck.

"Excuse me! Pardon me! Can't stop! Move please! I'm so sorry!" Dusty rapidly shouted to each vehicle as they dove to get out of his path.

When he finally came to a stop, he had to take a moment to catch his breath. He was so glad that he hadn't hit anyone. Dusty taxied down the boardwalk to where he had seen Alexis. He then rolled down the ramp to join her out on the shore. The sand was warm as it shifted beneath his tires. Still unaware of his presence, the female plane continued to stare distantly out at the seemingly endless expanse of sea and hum a few bars of a song. One lyric in particular managed to escape her lips,

_Stranger blue,_

_leave us alone._

_We don't want to deal with you …_

"Well, that's not nice especially after all the trouble I went through to get here," Dusty teased.

"Oh! Hey, Dusty. Did you roll all the way here?" Alexis asked, her thoughts still far away.

"No, I flew."

"Oh, you shouldn't land on the boardwalk then. You'll get in trouble."

"Well … where do you land?" Inquired Dusty curiously.

"On the boardwalk."

The two planes laughed briefly.

The crop duster looked out at the sea and listened as the waves gently rolled onto the sand before he said, "You sure come here a lot, you must really love the ocean."

Wondering if he'd been spying on her Alexis responded, "How do you know how much I come here?"

"Because I see you flying to and from this direction all the time and when you come back, your tires are covered in sand."

"Yeah okay, Holmes."

Dusty chuckled at her reply and then a long silence ensued.

"So … I helped make you breakfast this morning, but you weren't there so there goes all my hard work," he said at last.

"I'm sorry. I appreciate the thought though," she said, ending the conversation as quickly as it'd begun.

Another still moment arose and for Dusty it was most uncomfortable.

"I'm trying really hard not to ask you any questions, can you tell?" He smiled. "Oh scrap, that was a question!"

His struggling elicited a giggle from Alexis before yet another silence initiated. It was driving the crop duster crazy. He wanted to talk to her but all he had was questions.

Dusty finally decided that her being a little upset with him was worth it, "If you don't mind my asking, what happened last night?"

"What do you mean?" Alexis replied, playing dumb.

"You passed out. Why?"

"You know about that?!"

"Yeah. El Chu and I helped bring you back to your hangar … sort of. Well, 'escorted' is more the word."

"I don't know what happened. One moment I'm being lectured by Roper, the next I'm waking up in my hangar," she recalled.

Another silence followed.

Dusty figured if he got away with that question, why not try another? "So, why did you turn back in your first Rally?"

"Nunya," retorted Alexis, completely nonchalant.

"'Nunya, nunya, nunya'! That's all I ever get from you," he sighed exasperatedly. "Why don't you trust me? Why are you determined to be so mysterious?"

"Not all of us can be an open book like you, Dusty," Alexis declared before mocking him. 'I'm Dusty Crophopper and I was born on a manure farm in Nebraska!'"

"Wow, it hurts that you tried to sum up my whole life in one extremely boring, yet wildly inaccurate sentence. First of all, I don't talk like that. Second, I wasn't born on a manure farm. Third, no one 'farms' for manure. Fourth, I'm from Minnesota."

"Close enough."

"Oh yeah? Well, let me try to sum you up in one sentence."

"Go ahead!"

"Alright, let me think," said Dusty, going over everything he knew about Alexis in his mind. "Okay, I got it. 'I'm Alexis Tigerfyre and I'm a boy'!"

"Oh! You are so dead!" Alexis shouted as she laughed at the same time.

"Hurts don't it?" Laughed the crop duster as he tried to evade the female's wrath.

She smacked Dusty with one of her wings repeatedly, "I don't know, you tell me if it hurts."

"Ow, ow, ow! It hurts! It hurts!"

They laughed together for a long while.

"So, no more of this 'none of your business' stuff, ok?" Inquired the crop duster at last.

Alexis looked at him.

"Yeah, I know what 'nunya' means now. Check it out," he said as he threw down a book titled _Slang for Dummies_, which he carried in a small space in the side of his engine compartment, onto the sand before her. "Booyah! I got it from the gift shop. Now stop trippin' and hit me with the 411, homeskillet!"

Alexis erupted in hysterical laughter at the street talk mangled by Dusty's rural enunciation.

"You like that, huh?" Smiled Dusty, deeply enjoying her amusement. "So are you going to tell me now? What are you hiding?"

Alexis gradually stopped laughing. She remained quiet for a few moments before deeply sighing, "The year before last I started the Rally with everyone else, but I turned around and came back because … because I … I couldn't do it."

"'Couldn't do it'? Lexi, you didn't even try-"

"I did try! I tried very hard … but I couldn't do it."

"I don't understand. You didn't even cross the ocean. You… ," Dusty fought to piece together the puzzle, when suddenly it dawned on him. "… The 'stranger blue'… "

The Grob 120TP said nothing.

Dusty slowly moved closer to her as he gently asked, "Alexis? Are you … are you afraid … to fly across the ocean?"

She turned to him so quickly that it startled him for a moment. Her bluish-yellow eyes met and locked to his and she bit her lip as if a lie was struggling to force its way out of her mouth to cover up her vulnerability. However, her eyes … the way they held Dusty's said that she wanted him to know the truth and that she trusted him with it.

"So … you've never left the United States?" He asked.

"Don't be stupid," came Alexis' anger to try to conceal her perceived weakness and allowing her to break eye contact with him at last. "I've been to Mexico and Canada."

"I mean you haven't gone to other continents."

"Hey! I've gone my whole life without needing to visit another continent and I could go without visiting one for the rest of my life."

"Lexi, no you can't. We're planes. We have the gift to fly wherever whenever we want. There are things out there you just have to see; the Taj Mahal … Napal! Wait! The Rally is next week, you weren't thinking of giving up again were you?"

"No, of course not! Why do you think I come here multiple times a day? I'm trying to break the fear … but … I can't. It's just too strong, Dusty."

"I know it is. I used to be afraid of … heights," the crop duster confessed.

"You're joking."

"No, I'm not!"

"So, how'd you get over it?"

"I … I wanted to beat Ripslinger so badly, I just did it."

"That's helpful," Alexis sighed sarcastically.

"Well, tell me why you're afraid?"

"It's the ocean. It's so infinite. You could get lost at sea and run out of fuel. You could get trapped in a storm and struck by lightning. You could be attacked by pirates and held hostage or brutally murdered. You could just plain crash into the water and once you go down there's no getting airborne again," Alexis began to get pale and hyperventilate as each scenario became a reality in her mind.

"Whoa! Calm down, Lexi," consoled Dusty, placing one of his wings comfortingly over hers. "You know, all those things actually happened to me in my first Rally, … well not the pirates."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was extremely unlucky, but for the most part the chances of those things happening are very slim and if they do happen, just stay calm. If I survived I know you'd easily find a way out. I got stuck in the storm because I was too much of a wimp to fly above it. I got lost at sea because Ned and Zed broke my antenna. As for crashing into the ocean, well, we can't swim but an airplane can go for at least an hour underwater without rescue before an engine replacement becomes necessary, and I think CPU death takes even longer."

"Is all that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Is it?"

"No!" She shouted as she turned away from him.

Dusty rolled around so that she was facing him again and said, "Okay, okay! Just do this; when you fly over the ocean don't think about the water at all. Think about the things that make you happy, like … the Lomcevak, or El Chupacabra, or … Bulldog's rapping."

"You heard B-dog rap?!" Alexis asked in surprise.

"Yeah!"

"Wasn't it epic?!"

"Fa-sho!" Dusty chuckled.

Their laughter was interrupted by the sudden appearance of team RPX. The 3 planes flew in a wide circle around Alexis and Dusty as they taunted them.

"Lex, first that Mexican guy and now Farm Boy?! Is there any loser you _won't_ hang with?!" Teased Ripslinger.

"I hang with you so I guess not!" She countered.

Ripslinger scoffed and then turned his insults to the crop duster, "Hey, _Rusty_! On the way here we flew over a junkyard. I think I saw your mom there!"

Ned and Zed cackled.

"Oh yeah, Rip?! Yo momma's struts are so long, at 30,000 feet she's still on the ground!" Responded Alexis, coming to Dusty's defense.

Dusty and the Twin Turbos chuckled uproariously.

"You think that's funny, manure breath?!" Growled Ripslinger to the crop duster. "What's funny is that you need a girl to fight your battles for you!"

Dusty looked to Alexis before rolling forward.

"It's okay, Lexi. I've got it from here," he assured her, then he turned to call out his rival. "Ripslinger, your mother is so big they use her to carry aircraft carriers!"

Alexis giggled.

"Oh snap, Boss! The farmer's got jokes!" Said Ned in surprise.

"Your momma is so slow, Ripslinger, they time her with a calendar!" The crop duster continued.

"That's pretty funny," guffawed Zed.

"Shut up, stupid!" Ripslinger snarled at his henchman. "Is that so, Farm Boy? Well, yo momma-"

"You know what makes the sky blue, Ripslinger?" Interrupted Dusty. "Yo momma!"

"Of course, I'd be blue too if I had Rip's mom's stank exhaust in my face all day!" Added Alexis.

Ripslinger furiously turned and led his team away, "This isn't over!"

"Aww, don't go away mad, Rip! Just go away!" The stunt plane shouted as the trio departed before turning to Dusty. "That was awesome! I mean Rip, Ned, Zed, and I play The Dozens all the time but where did _you_ learn snaps like those?!"

"From my book," answered Dusty as he pointed with a wing to _Slang for Dummies_ upon the sand. He used his propeller to blow the book open to a certain page. "See? Appendix E, 'Planes Snaps'. There's ones for cars, boats, trains, and everything."

"Word," agreed Alexis.

"Oh, I completely forgot! I'm supposed to be bringing you back. El Chu needs to talk to you."

"Really?!" she asked as she swiftly made her way to the boardwalk.

"Yes, but don't get too excited," Dusty advised, following her. "It may not be exactly what you want to hear."

They took off from the boardwalk, much to the displeasure of the tourists and the security officer patrolling the strip, and headed back to find El Chupacabra. The Gee Bee was waiting outside team 12's hangar, when they finally pulled up to him.

"What took you guys so long?" Questioned El Chu.

"There were some things we needed to talk about and then we ran into Ripslinger and his minions," Answered Dusty. "Anyway, I know there's a lot you need to say to Alexis so I'm just going to go … somewhere else."

Dusty pretended to leave but actually went behind a nearby hangar and watched the two from around the corner.

"Alexis…" Began El Chu.

"Yes, EC?" Responded the female, feeling a bit dizzy from the sultry sound of her name rolling off his tongue.

"I know that you like me and I am flattered but … I cannot see us together as a couple… "

"But … why?"

"Because … well... ," he stammered in an attempt to come up with an acceptable excuse. "Because I value our friendship way too much. If we got together, things didn't work out, and I lost you as a friend I would be so very sad."

"Oh, but I'm super loyal, EC. If I can be friends with Ripslinger, I'm sure as hell not going to let anything ruin something as important as our friendship."

The Gee Bee recoiled at her swearing. Her heart ached as he turned away from her and feelings of sorrow washed over her again. Suddenly, just like during her run in the second round, she felt like she had to try harder and do something … anything to keep him from leaving.

"El Chupacabra, wait!" She called.

He stopped but didn't turn back to her.

"I just want to tell you … that … I love you, dude. And it's okay if you don't love me back but I wish you'd give us a chance," she came around to face him and look into his eyes. "I KNOW we'd be happy together because all I want is your acceptance and your happiness. I'll try really hard for you, bro, just give me a trial run. A week? Five days? Three days? Please? If you are truly unhappy with me after three days, I'll leave you alone forever."

As much as he really didn't want to date Alexis, the Mexican racer was unable to tell her the reality of how he felt about her. He was in a tough spot. He reasoned that being Alexis' boyfriend for three days was a lesser evil than having his friends know the truth and think the worst about him.

"Si… ," he conceded softly.

"W-What?" She questioned in disbelief.

"I said yes … three days. Uno, dos, tres dias. Nada mas!"

"Really?! YES! YES! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Alexis screamed euphorically. She raced to where she knew Dusty was 'hidden'. "Dusty! Did you hear?! HE SAID YES!"

"I heard, congratulations! Does this mean you're not going to make me breakfast anymore?" The crop duster teased.

The stunt plane leaped in the air ecstatically and shrieked, "It means you'll have to ask my new BOYFRIEND!"

El Chupacabra cringed at the word.


	7. Locked Out of Heaven

**NOOOOOO! My perfect Monday release record! I've soiled it! Soiled it! SOILED IT! Q_Q**

**Eh, oh well. Like anyone reads this besides me anyway...**

**Songs: ****_Locked Out of Heaven_**** by Bruno Mars**

* * *

After Alexis rushed into her hangar to tell Arianna her news, Dusty came over to El Chu and said, "So, doesn't it feel good to do the right thing? Look at her, she's so thrilled."

"It is nice to see her happy but I just know she is going to drive me loco with her energy or beat me up when she gets angry," El Chupacabra replied.

"You obviously don't know her at all, compadre. What you two need is to do some stuff as a couple so you can learn about each other and create some memories together."

Alexis zipped from the hangar and off to tell the world of her joy.

"Hold on, Lexi!" Cried Arianna as she followed her from the hangar. "Don't you think we should tweak your engine a bit if tomorrow's round is speed, or practice a little if it's navigation?!"

"Now there's an idea! Lexi, come back!" Called Dusty. "Let's all train together! Just me, you, and El Chu!"

The stunt plane rocketed back to her friends.

"Sounds great. Can't wait," she rhymed.

It was around noon when the four friends headed to an empty area of tarmac to run some drills.

"So, what are we practicing, fellas?" Asked Alexis. "I say speed, it's more fun!"

"You'd better practice both. You don't know what tomorrow's round will be," said Arianna.

"Fine, but speed first!"

"What are we going to do? Laps?" Questioned Dusty.

"Boring!" Opposed the stunt plane.

"We could race each other to make it more interesting," suggested El Chu.

"Now you're talking, boyfriend, but not laps. No, we'll do … suicide drills!" She smiled.

"S-s-suicide drills?!" Gulped the Mexican racer. "That sounds painful."

"I'm sure it's not as bad as it sounds," hoped Dusty. "How do you do it, Lexi?"

"Simple. We'll takeoff from one end of the ancillary runway and fly to the opposite end. Next, we'll fly back to the starting end and then turn and go to a farther point, like JFK. Then, we fly back to the starting end of the runway and turn to go to an even farther place, like the cemetery. Lastly, we come back to the starting point," she explained. "First one back wins."

"Whoa, that sounds … dangerously exhausting."

"Yup, that's why they're called suicide drills. They're a great exercise for speed and dexterity. Now, let's get started."

Alexis, Arianna, El Chu, and Dusty taxied to the ancillary runway. Dusty was excited to be trying one of Alexis' training methods, and he hoped it would give him super agility as well.

As the three planes lined up on the runway, Dusty finally noticed something, "Wait! We can't all depart at the same time which means we can't all start at the same time."

"Relax, Dusty. Once we're all in the air, we'll line up side by side and circle back over the starting point to begin," clarified Alexis before starting her engine and taking off into the air.

Dusty eagerly ascended after her, then El Chupacabra followed suit. Once all together they circled back to the starting point where Arianna waited as planned.

"Ready, guys?" Alexis asked as she flew betwixt her friends. "Today we shall find out who is fastest, and who is dead!"

"What?!" Dusty and El Chu shrieked in unison.

"I meant … who is slowest," she jeered with a mischievous chuckle as they rapidly approached the starting place.

"GO!" The little tug shouted as the three planes flew over her. The crop duster and the Gee Bee accelerated rapidly. Both El Chu and Dusty were surprised as they easily overtook the Grob G 120TP. However, the end of the runway came so quickly that they both greatly overshot it. Alexis laughed at them as she reached the end of the runway, and u-turned on a dime by looping upside down and back towards the starting point while simultaneously rolling to upright herself. When the boys finally got turned around they raced one another to see who would reach Alexis first. El Chu was fast but Dusty had no problem beating him back to the female and as they both sailed past her, they inadvertently sailed far beyond the starting point where they should have turned again! The stunt plane laughed so hard at her friends' antics it seemed almost like she would fall out of the air. She turned on a dime again and headed to JFK, effortlessly keeping the lead.

"What are you guys doing?!" Yelled Arianna. "You need to slow down to make the turns!"

"We know! We know!" Replied Dusty as he copied Alexis' turn but much more slow and sloppily.

"We just got caught up in the speed!" Said El Chu as he followed him.

Almost to JFK, the males caught up to her again. This time though they slowed down as they approached the airport and began their turns.

"Very good! You guys are finally catching on!" She commended as she watched them.

The boys were quick when it came to flying straight but, without her level of agility, they needed too much space to make their turns and that took up precious time. When she executed hers, it was so tight and swift that she was still ahead of them as she headed back to the starting point. They once again passed her with ease when they came out of their turns and she decided it was time to quit fooling around and put on some speed. As she pushed her grandfather's engine to go faster she became increasingly aware of something; maybe catching them wasn't going to be as simple as she had thought. She was able to get a little ahead of them again when they turned at the start point to make their way towards the cemetery, but Dusty caught and zipped by her once more even though he was obviously getting tired. Alexis had energy to spare but it was taking her to the redline just to stay even with El Chu!

"Come on, Gramps! Come on, Stanley!" She growled as she struggled to pull more horsepower from her engine.

Suddenly the old engine put out an additional burst of speed which was just enough for her to pass El Chupacabra, but it also began to overheat and smoke. As the three planes came out of the final turn and went into the homestretch, Alexis was right behind Dusty but she couldn't make herself go any faster. Her whole engine compartment was so boiling hot that it glowed bright red. A moment later it caught fire but, bizarrely, she couldn't feel a thing though and it was an eerie phenomenon in itself that she hadn't stalled out yet. However, the gap between her and the crop duster was rapidly shrinking. Dusty was exhausted from this exercise drill that had previously been foreign to him and consequently he was losing speed fast. As the starting/end point drew near, Alexis and Dusty were wing to wing with El Chu right on their tails. The crop duster's pace steadily continued to decrease and as they crossed the end point, Alexis was ahead of him by a nose! It wasn't until she was infront of him that Dusty notice the extreme condition of her engine and the two males quickly landed to catch their breath while Alexis celebrated.

"Whooo hoooo!" She cheered breathlessly as she flew high straight up into the air in victory, the smoke from her engine creating trails behind her.

"Is that-?" Wheezed the weary El Chu as he worriedly watched from the ground.

"It better not be-" Growled Arianna warningly as she looked as well.

"It is-" Puffed Dusty in delight as the three of them observed Alexis when she fell backwards out of her vertical climb and tumbled in a free fall towards the ground. As she spun, her engine smoke drew intricate swirls in the sky.

"The Lomcevak!" They said in unison, the tug and Gee Bee clearly not as thrilled about it as the crop duster.

Arianna quickly fetched the qualifier grounds' fire engine for assistance. When Alexis finally touched back down on the runway, her engine was smoking severely and was so searing hot that the others had to back away as the heat radiating off of her began to burn them as well. The fire truck sprayed her with foam to cool it.

"Are you crazy?!" Hollered Arianna. "I thought you agreed not to do that!"

"Hey, the engine trouble started way before I did the Lomcevak!" Defended Alexis as she panted heavily. "Besides, I couldn't help it. It's been such a long time."

"It's only been a couple of days!"

"That is a long time! Anyways, Stanley likes it."

"Who?"

"Stanley. You know, the dude who owned the compressor before me. I named it after him. Sometimes, I think I feel his presence when I fly."

"Oh, shut up!"

"I'm serious! I know things look bad when I'm up in the air, but check out my engine. It'll be just the same as always."

Arianna opened Alexis' cowl and took a look. Despite the smoke and the flames she and the others had clearly seen, the still ancient engine was otherwise normal with nary a scorch mark to be found.

"That's impossible… ," the mechanic said in disbelief.

"Isn't it great?! Now I can do the Lomcevak as much as I want!" Alexis squealed in glee. "Thank you, Stan, you the man!"

"No, Lexi, you made me a promise! Now I don't know what's going on here, but we can't afford for you to mess up this engine. Even if your engine did suddenly have some sort of supernatural healing power or whatever, I'd say it should be used to qualify for and survive the Rally, not for you to show off your tricks with no consequences. So, don't do the Lomcevak anymore!"

"Alright, alright! You're worse than Roper."

It took a moment for Arianna to regain a sense of calm once she shut Alexis' cover. Dusty and El Chu were a little confused by the talk of supposed supernatural powers, but they chalked it up to the girls being silly and dismissed the notion altogether.

"Lexi, are you alright?" Inquired Dusty in concern when he finally caught his breath.

"Yeah, bro, I'm fine," she grinned. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yes ma'am, that was pretty intense though. I feel faster and stronger already!"

"I can't believe how fast you guys are. In the beginning I was playing around because I knew my turns would give me an edge and because I thought I could easily keep up with you two. I guess I forgot this engine doesn't have the power I'm used to."

"What do you mean?"

"Uh, nothing," she quickly suppressed. "Nothing at all."

"Whoa, was that there before?" Asked El Chu, interrupting their conversation and turning their attention upon an enormous hangar that had been assembled at the end of the competitors' quarters.

"They must've put it up sometime last night. Come on, let's go check it out," suggested Dusty.

The hangar's two entrances had heavy drapes over them to keep the air-conditioned air inside and the summer's heat out. El Chu went in first and immediately spotted Rochelle. He sped to her side, allowing the thick curtain to fall back and smack Alexis in the face.

"Rude much!" Yelled Arianna.

"It's okay, Ari. It's just a curtain. It doesn't hurt," excused Alexis to justify the act.

The stunt plane entered, followed by the tug and the crop duster. The hangar was nice and cool compared to outside. Next to the entrance of the shelter was a table with refreshments which two WATG tugs managed. The rest of the perimeter was lined with booths of various enterprises operated by either a tug or some model of car. The largest and most extravagant booth was that of a syndicate called Dinoco.

"Cool, it's a sponsors tent!" Beamed Arianna.

Nitroade, Gask-its, Allinol, Lightyear, Hostile Takeover Bank … all the big companies were there to try and buy the stars of the air racing world. Alexis followed Arianna as she went from booth to booth, but her eyes stayed on El Chu as he chatted up Rochelle with his cheesy pickup lines and even brought her a drink from the refreshment table. The stunt plane sighed dejectedly then, suddenly, she ran into someone. It was a golden 1975 Cadillac Coupe de Ville with bullhorns above his grille.

"Sorry, sir," she apologized.

"It's alright, little lady. No harm done," replied the little car in a deep Texan drawl. "Say now, aren't you Alexis Tigerfyre?"

"Yes sir."

"Well, I'm Tex Dinoco and I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Ms. Tigerfyre. I've heard a lot about you lately. Some good, some bad but I'm not interested in what I've heard. I'm interested in what I've _seen. _There's been a lot of videos on the Internet of your feats of aerial skill and I know for certain people are going to be far more captivated watching you defy death with your aerobatic flair than by who crosses the finish line first."

"You really think so?" Alexis asked, beginning to feel better.

"I didn't say I 'think', I said I _know_!" He corrected enthusiastically. Even though he had to look up to her to make eye contact, his energy and commanding demeanor radiated confidence and prestige. "I'm starting a new line of high octane fuels for piston powered aircraft such as yourself. So now I'm wondering; how would you like to be the official spokes-plane of Dinoco?"

Naive Alexis was unfamiliar with the powerful gasoline corporation and humbly questioned, "If I have Dinoco as my sponsor, does that mean I'll be able to afford new parts?"

"Darling, having Dinoco as your sponsor means you will be able to keep you, your family, and all your friends in new parts for the rest of your lives."

"Sweet! Okay, where do I sign?"

"Before we actually start any paperwork, I need to see more of what you can really do especially after your … less than impressive performance in your first Rally. Complete the Rally and then we'll talk more. Win the Rally and I'll sign you up on the spot. Take care, Ms. Tigerfyre," said Tex before returning to whatever he was doing before she had almost ran him over.

Wow, Mr. Dinoco really knew how to motivate someone! Alexis had never been interested in trying to actually win the Rally before. She was just happy to spend time with EC and her racing pals. In fact, she'd consider it a miracle if she even made it across the Atlantic. At the same time she couldn't help wondering if Tex gave the same pitch to all the racers. Her eyes went back to the Gee Bee and her heart sunk as she watched him hold the curtain open for the French-Canadian and then follow her out.

"Look, at all this stuff!" Exclaimed Dusty as he came up to Alexis decked out with free gear from each of the sponsors. When he noticed her desolate expression he inquired, "What's wrong?"

Alexis just shook her nose.

The crop duster looked around and saw that El Chupacabra and Rochelle were gone before asking, "It's El Chu, isn't it?"

"He didn't even get me a drink," she sighed as she turned and left the hangar.

"Maybe if you hold open doors for him and bring him drinks, you can sort of shame him into doing it for you," suggested Dusty as he followed her out.

"I don't want to embarrass him into caring about me. I want him to do it because he truly cares about me. The truth is, he doesn't because he's simply not interested in me."

"I've already told you that you're the most interesting individual around, remember? He's only not interested because he doesn't know you yet and that's what we have three days to work on. So, he needs to actually put in some effort to learn about you and you need to be strong and not give up or get discouraged when he seems to rebuff your affections. Alright?"

"Alright."

"I'll be right back," he said before darting back into the sponsors' hangar. He returned a moment later with a can of Full Synthetic Pennzoil, "Here's your drink."

"Thanks, Dusty. You're my ace, man," she smiled.

In surprise he asked, "_I'm_ your ace?"

"Yeah, next to Ari."

"Still, that's really good! Arianna's your ace-ace, so for me to be like your second ace is … it's an honor. Do I get like a medal or something?"

"No," she giggled. "But … I'll answer whatever questions you ask. No fuss. I know you're full of them."

"Really?!" Said Dusty eagerly. "Okay then, first question; … will you teach me to do the Lomcevak?"

"Dusty, my man, I will teach you any and everything you could ever hope to know about aerobatics. You'll just have to wait a while."

"Of course, after what happened earlier I'm surprised you feel well enough to still be out with us. Which actually brings us to my second question; what's wrong with your engine?"

"My engine is fine," she answered quickly in hopes the inquiry would be dismissed.

"'Fine'?! It was on fire!"

"I didn't feel anything and if you don't believe me then look."

After she opened her cowl the crop duster looked upon the antique engine.

"Watch yourself," she gently warned as she fired it up.

Dusty rolled back a bit to make sure he was clear of her propeller then watched as the old engine started. As usual, it wasn't smooth but it ran.

"No way. It … looks … fine. Ancient, but fine," he said in awe.

"That's exactly what I told you," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"That doesn't quite seem possible. Alexis … are you cursed?" Dusty joked.

"I prefer to think of it as 'haunted'," she smiled before giving her body a shake to make her hood fall closed.

"Okay, so it's undamaged. That's good, but it doesn't explain why you have the engine of an old man."

"It's funny that you should say that. It is an old man's engine."

"What?"

Alexis took a deep breath, "My grandpops, the greatest plane in plane history-"

"And creator of TigerFyre engine conditioner," added Dusty.

"Yes. He was only given a year left to live and he wanted to spend it traveling the world with my grandmother, but his engine wasn't strong enough to make such a journey. So, I offered him mine. He told me no because an engine like his would be an affliction on someone young like me, but I insisted. I wanted him to fulfill his last wish and the swap was only supposed to be temporary."

"So, what happened?"

"He … uh … got shot down over the ocean … by pirates. My grandmother was held hostage and my family had to pay a ransom to get her back."

"Pirates?! That explains one of your fears. I'm so sorry to hear that. Why did he think his engine would be an issue for you?"

"My gramps' engine, this engine right here, actually belonged to _his_ dad," explained Alexis.

"What?! Your engine is four generations old?!" Shouted the crop duster in astonishment.

"Yup, preserved with TigerFyre."

"That stuff is insane!"

"Yeah, now you know why everyone is so grateful when I give it to them. Also, this engine is part of why I'm so good at aerobatics. A mid-air stall out was how I first learned to do the Lomcevak and how I learned to make gravity work _for_ me."

"That's fascinating! But … does that mean that you only have a year left to-"

"No! My grandpop's CPU was severely corroded. That's why he was dying, it wasn't the engine."

"Oh, that's good! I mean - I don't mean that it was good that he died! But that-," he stammered.

"Be cool, Dusty. I get it," she said to put him at ease.

After apparently being told off by Rochelle again, El Chu returned to Dusty and Alexis.

"So, what are you two whispering about?" The Mexican racer chuckled.

Both planes glared at him in condemnation before Dusty cleared his throat and said to Alexis, "We shouldn't leave Arianna in there by herself. You should go check on her."

Alexis gave him a curious look before doing as she was bid. Alone with El Chupacabra, the crop duster just shook his nose in disapproval.

"Que?" El Chu asked.

"You are supposed to be Lexi's boyfriend for the next three days. That means you are supposed to be a gentleman and not run off with other women," reprimanded Dusty. "Come on, compadre. You're not even trying!"

"I know, I know, and if it had been any other woman I would not have done it, but amigo, it was … Rochelle."

"What is it about her that has you so obsessed?!"

"I must confess … she was … the best."

"The best at what?"

El Chupacabra turned to Dusty and crooned in his thick Spanish accent,

_Never had much faith in love or miracles  
Never one to put my heart on the line  
But flying in her world is something spiritual  
I'm born again every time she spends the night_

"We're not talking about what I hope we're not talking about, are we?" Questioned Dusty in confusion.

_Cause her sex takes me to paradise  
Yeah, her sex takes me to paradise  
And it shows_

_Yeah, yeah, yeah_

The stunned crop duster interrupted again, "I can't believe you're saying this right now."

_Cause she makes me feel like,_

_ I've been locked out of heaven  
For too long_

_For too long_

"I think I'm going to be sick," Dusty groaned, a look of disgust on his face.

"I am sorry, Dusty, but as a man you know we men have needs and now that I am no longer with Rochelle, there are certain needs that are not being met."

"El Chu, that's very shallow… "

"Not so much. In addition to the physical desire, there is also the emotional longing."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean every time she turns me away I feel so … unattractive. I want to be made to feel sexy and good-looking. I am sure the same need dwells in you, amigo."

"But Lexi thinks you're very-"

"'Lexi this'! 'Lexi that'!" Growled the Gee Bee. "Rochelle is where my attachment lies! She is the one I want!"

Alexis returned from the hangar with Arianna who had managed to collect so much sponsor swag that she could hardly be seen beneath it all.

"What's wrong with Dusty?" The tug asked, her voice muffled by the gear.

"He will be fine. I should probably get him back to his hangar though," answered El Chu.

"No!" Responded Dusty. "The happy couple needs to hang out more. Let's go do something fun."

"You planes go ahead, I'm going to put away this stuff," said Arianna before heading back to her hangar.

"So what do you want to do, Dusty?" Inquired Alexis.

"Follow me," he replied and then he led them to the ancillary runway, which was deserted in the early evening.

The stars were just barely out. The crop duster lined himself up with the mud and then accelerated. He hit the puddle at top speed and was sent spinning down the runway.

"What was that?! Let me show you how it's done," laughed Alexis excitedly as she prepared to join her silly friend in the mud.

"Playing in mud is for children," scoffed El Chu.

Just like that, the fun was over. Alexis stopped in her tracks, not wanting her new boyfriend to think of her as childish.

"Yeah, Dusty. Come on, man, get out of the mud," she reluctantly agreed.

Dusty saw through Alexis' pretense and in hopes that she would get irritated and come out in the mud to get him, he used his propeller to fling the muck at her. When the grime smacked against her side he chuckled delightedly. The Grob 120TP was indeed annoyed, but not enough to do anything that would damage her standing with El Chu.

"I am going to head back to my hangar," said El Chu, not amused. "Adios, amigos."

Alexis called after him, "Oh, EC wait up! We should totally exchange SkyPhone numbers."

"Why?"

"Because that's what boyfriends and girlfriends do."

The Mexican racer was hesitant but finally, he grudgingly gave her his number.

"Sweet! This is your real number right? Because if it's not, I'll totally kill you," Alexis joked.

El Chu's gulped and his eyes widened in terror.

"She's kidding of course," clarified Dusty with a laugh.

The three planes laughed tensely for a moment.

"Okay, well I am going now. Adios," said El Chu, leaving quickly.

"Adios, boyfriend!" Shouted Alexis before asking Dusty, "Sheesh, why is EC so cranky all of a sudden? Man period?"

"Yeah … uh, it's something like that … but at least now we can have fun," replied the crop duster.

"No, I'm going to go take a shower … like a boring-ass adult."

"Seriously?! You're going to leave me out here by myself?!"

She continued leaving with no reply.

"Fine! I guess I'll go too," he sighed before rolling out of the mud and tailing her.

This time the showers were mostly empty. It sounded as though only one other bay was being used. A tug from team 6 stood outside holding a towel but neither the crop duster nor stunt plane thought anything of it. Alexis went in and claimed a stall and Dusty followed her into it.

"Dude! What are you doing?!" Asked Alexis with a laugh.

"I'm collecting that shower you owe me," he replied pragmatically.

"So go use another stall!"

"No, I'm showering with you because it's your fault I need one in the first place. If I had known you were going to leave me hanging in the mud looking like a loser, I wouldn't have gone in at all."

"I'm sorry, Dusty," she sighed, genuinely apologetic. "EC was just so disapproving. You know I want him to like me."

"Speaking of that, during the most … disturbing conversation with him, I learned of a way you can peak his interest."

"Really?! Tell me! Tell me!"

Dusty took a deep breath, "Apparently, El Chu is … hungry …"

"He's hungry? I fix you fools breakfast everyday!" Alexis interrupted.

"No, he's hungry for … intimacy of … a …," Dusty continued his faltering.

"Dusty, just spit it out, bro!"

"He's hungry for intimacy of a physical kind!"

"So … he's horny?" She asked before giving him a curious look.

"Um, er, … for lack of a better word, yes," he blushed as he was made uncomfortable by her bluntness.

"Why didn't you just say that?"

"Because I didn't want to say that."

"So I just need to seduce him?"

"Pretty much, but … I mean … can you?"

"What does that mean?!" Alexis asked sharply, a hint of offense in her tone.

"Nothing! I'm just saying that you're not the most … uh … feminine female … so it might be kind of hard," Dusty tried to explain.

"You don't think I can be sexy?!"

"I'm not saying that!"

"I'll show you sexy!"

Alexis placed a wing over Dusty's and leaned into him, pressing the front of her wet fuselage to his.

"Oh, Mr. Crophopper!" She moaned, her voice suddenly higher and much more womanly.

"Lexi, don't do that, especially not here," pleaded Dusty, now more uncomfortable than ever as his oil pressure began to rise.

"What's the matter, papi? She teased, repeatedly smooching a corner of his mouth.

"Lexi, stop it!" He demanded even though her kissing encouraged him to try to turn so her lips would actually meet his.

However, she laughed meanly and kept moving away from them as he rolled to her. Her eyes caught his and she slowly licked her lips before inaudibly mouthing his name. Then she turned and, swaying her tail, she danced erotically away as she covertly used her wing tip to move the showerhead so that it only sprayed him.

"Oh yes, Dusty!" She moaned before turning the temperature control all the way to cold.

The little crop duster screamed in shock as the ice cold water doused him and he stumbled out of the stall. Alexis laughed uncontrollably at him.

"Yeah, boy!" She cheered in her normal voice. "Say hello to 'Sexy Lexi'! El Chu is mine!"

"You're a terrible person," muttered Dusty.

"I'm sorry, bro. I had to prove a point."

"You said if we showered together it _wouldn't_ be like a porno."

"That wasn't porn. You want to see porn?!" She asked playfully as she stood beneath the dryer.

"No, I DO NOT want to see 'porn'! Stay away from me!" Dusty snapped as he attempted to regain his composure.

Alexis chuckled, "Then quit your bitchin' and come on. We have to go seduce EC."

"We?!" Asked Dusty apprehensively.

Alexis dragged the crop duster to team 5's hangar.


	8. The Sky Bar

**Sorry to be so late with this chapter. I have a bit of bad news; the story is all caught up to what was pre-written now, therefore I won't be putting up a new chapter every week like before. Now, I'll put them up as I finish them. Of course you could fav the story so you're the first to know when a new chapter is up. =p**

**Bwah ha ha ha ha haaaa!**

* * *

"Hey EC, it's too early to be turning in! Come to the beach with Dusty and me!" Alexis called to the Mexican racer.

"No, that is quite alright," he replied. "I do not want any part of your juvenile games."

"Actually, I know of this really nice bar there I thought we could all chill at. Is that mature enough for you?"

"Come on, compadre!" Beckoned Dusty. "I'll buy you a drink!"

El Chupacabra grudgingly rolled from his hangar to join his friends.

"Yes! Now it's a party! Let's go, fellas," Alexis beamed, eagerly racing for the runway.

Dusty could see that their night was going to be influenced by two very strong energies and he had to make a choice. He could stick by the strangely uptight El Chu thereby forcing Alexis to slow down and conform to the group, which would most likely result in them all having a dull time. Or he could try to match Alexis' exuberance thus encouraging El Chu to keep up with them so they could all have fun. It was an easy decision.

"Wait up, Lexi!" Smiled the crop duster as he sped after her and left El Chu in his dust.

The Gee Bee contemplated going back to his hangar but instead sighed and picked up the pace to catch up to his friends, "Why are we in a hurry?!"

The three pals flew to the beach, which in the night, glowed bright with festivity. The boardwalk was packed with tourists.

"Uh, Lexi, where are we going to land? There's too many vehicles on the boardwalk," said Dusty as they flew past the bright shore. As they approached the pitch-black expanse of the ocean he and El Chu circled back around to continue searching for a good place to make a landing.

"Yeah, not to mention a lot more police officers," added Alexis as she watched the ground so intensely that she no longer paid attention where she was going. When she looked up and saw herself flying into the dark nothingness over the sea she began to freak out. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!" She panicked as she swiftly executed her sharp U-turn back towards the shining coast and then rolled to right herself.

"Whoa! Lexi, Relax!" Soothed Dusty. "We're not even over the water."

"But we were close."

El Chupacabra was confused. He wasn't sure why nearly being over the ocean would elicit such a response from the stunt plane but he said nothing of it.

"We're going to have to work on that, you know … real soon," said Dusty.

"I know, but not tonight," she panted.

As they passed over the busy strip again, Alexis spotted a near empty side street.

"We can land there!" She said as she headed towards it.

"On a street?! That is against the law!" Alerted El Chu. "There are cars on the road!"

"Not that many."

"Alexis, don't!"

"Too late!" She yelled, lowering her landing gear.

She touched down on the street and engaged her brakes. The few motorists honked angrily and swerved to get out of her way as she careened, brakes screeching and tires squealing, down the center of the road. Alexis had to lift her wings to avoid hitting things along either side of the street such as signs and fire hydrants. When she finally came to a stop, she had to catch her breath from her harrowing, near disaster of a landing.

"Come on, guys! I cleared the path for you!" She laughed. "Hurry up before the cops come!"

"She is crazy!" Shouted El Chu in response to the recklessness he'd just witnessed.

"Yup!" Agreed Dusty as he took a deep breath and flew down for a landing.

Although he was nervous, his descent was without incident and was even smoother than Alexis' since she had already dispersed the traffic. El Chupacabra was shocked. He couldn't believe that Dusty had just followed Alexis' foolish example.

"Come on, El Chu, it's not so hard!" Comforted the crop duster.

The Gee Bee was uneasy. He had grown up landing on runways more difficult than this narrow street but that was a long time ago. Still, a part of him was up for the challenge. He, like Dusty, took a deep breath and went for it and found that it was truly effortless. In seconds he was on the ground with his pals.

"That … was … exhilarating! Right, amigos?!" He cheered with pride and received no reply. "Dusty? Alexis?"

The crop duster and stunt plane had vanished as the sound of sirens drew near and the red and blue lights lit up the night.

"EC, don't just stand there! Come on," Alexis whispered loudly from a wide alley nearby.

The males followed her through the streets and to an enormous beachside Hilton. The atmosphere inside the huge hotel was a clamor as tourists checked in and out and the staff raced to and fro to help their guests. The lobby was decorated with a black and gold theme and everything, including the employees, was painted to match it. That is, everything except a blue elevator in the far corner marked 'Sky Bar'. Quite a few hoity-toity couples, adorned in their jewelry and glossy, flawless paintjobs, had gone into it already. A beefy black and gold tug guarded the elevator doors and made sure only the upper class made it through.

"Are you sure we're allowed up there, Alexis? Everyone going up looks a lot fancier and more important than us," El Chu said.

"Don't worry, I have a friend who works here," she said as she approached the bouncer. "Hello, we are friends of Rodney and we'd like to go up to the Sky Bar."

"Let me see your VIP passes?" The burly tug replied in a deep African accent. His voice was full of so much bass Alexis could feel his every word rattle through her body.

"We don't have passes but we are very important planes."

"No passes. No entry."

Suddenly, a Cessna 340, painted the typical black and gold of all the hotel's personnel, came over to them, "Alexis?! I thought that was you!"

"Rodney!" The stunt plane cheered, zipping up to the male and rubbing noses with him in a friendly aircraft 'hug'.

"Hey, how are you? I hear you've been really turning the qualifiers upside down over there."

"Hehe, yeah … sort of," she chuckled.

"So, what's going on? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to come see you and show my friends the Sky Bar, but Mufasa here won't let us in."

The black and gold African tug just rolled his eyes and said, "Very important planes only."

"My friend, this is Alexis Tigerfyre! She's the heiress to the TigerFyre legacy and the most important plane I know!" Said Rodney before circling around the group to Dusty, "And this guy, I know you! You're Dusty Crophopper, the current Wings Around the Globe Rally champion!" Then he came to El Chu, "And you are … um …"

"Rodney, bro, this is El Chupacabra!" Laughed Alexis.

"Oh! You're the monster who siphons the fuel from other vehicles down in Puerto Rico!" Said Rodney.

"No, no, no! It is just a stage name!" Smiled El Chu, trying to hide the fact that deep down he was hurt that he was unknown.

"Dude, he is the Mexican indoor racing champion, the number one mariachi recording artist, and a leading romantic novelist," Alexis informed.

"Oh yeah? Is he really all that?" The Cessna 340 asked dubiously.

"Yeah, he is _so_ all that," she swooned as she stood beside El Chu and dreamily looked up at him.

"Oh, I see it now," grinned Rodney, able to tell right away that his close friend had a thing for the Gee Bee. "Wow, Lexi, it's so good to see you again! It seems like it was just yesterday that your brother and I were teenagers practicing all kinds of dangerous stunts and you were just a measly little brat trying to keep up with us. Remember how I was always like, 'Lexi, stunts are for boys so go play with your dolls'?"

"Yeah, and remember how I took one of the dolls and shoved it so far up one of your engines, you couldn't fly for a week?"

"A week?! I can never fly again!" He chuckled. "It's still in there you know."

"Oh my god, Rodney, I'm so sorry!" Alexis cried, genuinely starting to feel upset.

"Gotcha! I'm just kidding!"

"You asshole!" The stunt plane laughed with him. "Can we go now?"

"One more thing; have you spoken to your brother at all recently? I haven't been able to get in contact with him for like a month. I hope he's okay."

"No, I haven't talked to him but I'm sure he's fine. He's Phoenix Tigerfyre … he's unstoppable!"

"Yeah, that's true," agreed Rodney. "Alright, you three have a good time. I have to get back to work."

"But Rodney, what about that guy?" Inquired the deep voiced tug, referring to El Chu. "He still needs a pass."

"No he doesn't. 'That guy' is obviously a guest of the very important Alexis and Dusty. Let them all through."

The brawny tug reluctantly let them into the large elevator. The interior of the lift was lit with soft blue lights and the floor was covered in lush burgundy carpeting. The posh elevator was also quick. In seconds it had ascended to the roof of the humongous Hilton hotel. When the doors opened all the three friends could do was gasp in amazement. The Sky Bar was gently illuminated by blue rope lights that went along the railings of the roof's edge, the bar, and the outside of the elevator doors. There was a large, shallow wading pool, an enclosed dance floor with a personal DJ, and lots of plush parking mats placed around the perimeter of the roof, which more than a few couples were making out upon. The view of the entire beach and all the little vehicles on the boardwalk way down below was breath taking. Up above, only a few stars could be discerned in the night sky as a result of the light pollution radiating from the strip. Despite being called the _Sky_ Bar, there were quite a few cars and even non-staff tugs relaxing in the exclusive tavern. However, it was easy to tell that they all were extremely wealthy and had bought their way in.

The three friends picked a table to park at and ordered some drinks.

"So, Lexi, I heard from a certain little orange tug that you're in 40th place now. Tell me that's a joke," said Dusty.

"I wish it was. I can't believe it, from first place to almost last after one round! That's got to be a record," she replied.

"It's not that bad. You still have the speed and navigation rounds to make it back into the top 22."

"No lie, Dusty, I suck at navigation."

"Everyone does," chimed in El Chupacabra. "Nowadays, we all have technology to help us get from place to place. Take that away and we all 'suck' at navigation."

"El Chu's right," Dusty corresponded. "So all you have to do is suck _less_ than everyone else."

"I'll do my best," sighed Alexis.

A server brought them their drinks and they all were silent for a while. As usual, Dusty was the one to break the stillness.

"You guys should be asking each other questions and getting to know each other better," he said.

"You're right. Let's make it into a drinking game!" Grinned Alexis mischievously. "We each ask a question. After all the questions have been answered we take a shot to finish the round. Whoever can last the most rounds wins!"

"That sounds like a terrible idea," El Chu frowned.

"Yeah, let's do it," laughed Dusty.

Alexis asked the server to bring them three Nitro Bombs, the bar's strongest shots. The drinks came in three tiny oilcans with long, rigid spouts.

"Ladies first," said El Chu.

"Oh, well, go ahead then, Dusty," teased Alexis.

"I'll be a lady tonight because I am all too happy to be the first to ask a question," he replied. "Alright, Lexi, what's this so called 'Phoenix' like?"

"Somehow, I knew your first question would be for me," she laughed before answering. "Okay … if Grandpa Leone was the greatest plane in plane history, that'd make my older brother, Phoenix, the second greatest. He's athletic, brave, artistic, smart, and handsome. He's my hero! I first got into aerobatics because of him. He would do the most amazing stunts all the time but when he turned 18, he left and joined the Navy. Still, his agility in combat was so highly valued that he won tons of medals."

"So, where is he now?"

"Come on, Dusty, you only get one question per round!"

"This is part two of my one question!"

"I don't know. He got injured and was retired from the Military. After that he became a regular Indiana Jones, travelling the world and getting into all kinds of adventures. He'd always come back with little more than some ridiculous artifact, a bunch of new scars, and lots of damn good stories."

"Whoa, sounds like I guy I'd like to meet," Dusty reflected on her anecdote.

"Yeah, he's quite a character to be around but you'd never guess all the things he's done just by looking at him. He's pretty quiet and doesn't really talk about himself much. He says he prefers to listen to the everyday exploits of normal vehicles than talk about his own. Once I asked him where he got the courage to do all that he does and he told me that he does all that stuff because he doesn't have any courage at all. He said he could never have the guts to ask a girl out or settle down and get married. He says he goes on all those crazy quests as an excuse _not_ to socialize with people regularly. He's so goofy! Anyway, enough about him, it's my turn to ask a question now. EC, why are you so sexy?"

When El Chupacabra first heard the inquiry he prepared to blow it off as another one of her attempts to hit on him, but then something strange happened. Her compliment disguised as a question touched him deeply in a place that hadn't been stirred in a while. Suddenly, he felt some of his tension dissipate and a feeling of gratitude enveloped him. Even though it wasn't running, his engine began to heat up in a vehicular 'blush' and he gave her a tiny smile.

"Just lucky I guess, but gracias," he thanked her. "It really means a lot that you think I am good-looking."

"No problem, Boo," she grinned back.

"Boo?"

"That means you're her man," Dusty explicated.

"Oh," the Gee Bee chuckled nervously before clearing his throat and turning to Dusty to ask his question. "Speaking of relationships, compadre, what is it about Senorita Ishani that has got your propeller spinning?"

Dusty stammered as he tried to explain without sounding too sappy, "Well, … uh … she was the first girl I met outside Propwash Junction who was nice to me and she's so smart, and aerodynamic, and beautiful."

Alexis silently mocked him as he went on and on about the Indian plane before interrupting, "Didn't she try to kill you in your last race?"

"Hey! It's not your turn to ask a question!" Snapped the crop duster. "Besides, that was Ripslinger's idea."

"She still chose to carry it out."

"Yeah, but she apologized and I forgive her."

"I guess that's all that matters," the Grob 120TP scoffed. "Well, that's round one. Bottoms up!"

The three friends quickly sipped up their shots. El Chu and Alexis brushed off the alcohol's sting with a sigh while Dusty made the most agonized of expressions.

"Ahh!" He chuckled as his eyes watered. "It burns so bad!"

Alexis quickly fetched her friend some coolant from the bar to wash the liquor down before she and El Chu began to laugh at his expense. Then the tug server brought them another round.

"All right, my turn again," Dusty squeaked, his throat only slightly soothed by the chaser. "Alexis -"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're not going to bombard me with questions all night, homeboy!" The stunt plane interrupted swiftly. "We'll change directions each round. This time you ask EC one, he asks me one, and then I'll ask you one."

"What kind of guys do you like?"

"Compadre, she said you are supposed to ask _me_ a question," said El Chupacabra.

"I _am_ asking you!" Teased the crop duster.

The Gee Bee scoffed in offense.

Struggling not to join in his laughter, Alexis snickered through clenched teeth, "Dusty, you're obviously already drunk."

"Is it my turn now?" El Chu grumbled.

"Not until you answer the question," Dusty prodded.

"I do not like guys!" He hastily huffed. "Alexis, are you from New York? Do you live here?"

"No, I don't really live anywhere," she answered nonchalantly. "I'm originally from Virginia but I typically just hop from place to place, getting paid to do stunt shows with a travelling team of daredevils."

"Don't you ever go home? I am sure your family misses you."

"That's one question too many, EC."

"No, no, no. This is 'part two' of my question."

She rolled her eyes and then sighed, "I bet they miss nagging me to conform to what they want me to be. I'm never going back home. Okay now, no more of this 'part two' shit."

The boys chuckled briefly.

"Dusty, what does that little piston and cross-wrench symbol mean? You better not be a pirate because I'll kick your ailerons," Alexis said.

"It's the symbol of my flight instructor's Navy squadron, The Jolly Wrenches. They're all heroes, not pirates, and it means a lot to me that they accepted me as one of them," he answered proudly.

"Cool. Round two down! Cheers!"

Alexis and El Chu hurriedly swallowed their drinks just like before. Dusty hesitated a moment before finally gulping it down and rapidly following with his coolant chaser.

"Your turn, Dusterino," smiled Alexis as their server brought the next round of drinks.

The crop duster whined piteously as the liquor assaulted his throat on its way down and then scowled at his friends' derision. After choking down the second drink, Dusty's could tell his senses were noticeably dulled. His tongue felt numb and lazy, consequently his speech followed suit.

"Ohhh-kay, Lessy. Ahem! LEX-see …," he cleared his throat in an attempt to correct his own slurring. "Why don't you ass why ah'm sessy? A-heh-hem! … sexy?"

El Chupacabra thought his inquiry was a bit strange. Alexis, apparently feeling her drinks as well, was hysterical with laughter.

"I don't need to 'ass' you," she playfully ridiculed with a wink. "I _know_ why you're sexy, Dusty. You're funny, trustworthy, and the best friend anyone could have. Plus, what girl could resist the smell of Vita-minamulch? I don't see why Ishani hasn't swooped you up already. She better hurry up before I decide to."

Dusty's eyes widened a bit and then he gulped before a sheepish smile overtook his face.

The stunt plane then turned to El Chu, "Wanna make out, boyfriend?"

"We are in the middle of a game," the Gee Bee reprimanded. "Now ask me your question."

"That IS my question!"

"Oh," he realized. "In that case; no thank you. I am not drunk enough to do that yet. Dusty, why did you want to become a racer?"

Dusty was quiet for a while as he seemingly collected his thoughts, "Ah wanted to s-see the worl' an' prove ah can do more than crust dops. Ahem! Dusts … crop!"

Both the Gee Bee and the stunt plane burst out in laughter at his incoherent reply. Dusty just glared at them in mild annoyance.

"That's round three!" Alexis called, signaling for the boys to empty their oilcans. "Wow, Dusty, you ah're lastin' much longer-er than I thought."

"Tap … tap … tap tap," murmured the tipsy crop duster as he sunk to the floor after finishing his third drink.

"Compadre, are you … alright?" Asked El Chu.

"No mo'. Ah'm tap-tappin' out."

"Duh-sy?" Slurred Alexis, kicking one of his tires with her own. When she got no response from him she jeered, "Three shots an' he's done? What kine o' lightweight Navy squadron ah're tha Jolly Wrenches anyway?!"

El Chupacabra shrugged and then the couple was silent for a few moments.

El Chu was starting to feel a bit buzzy himself yet when he finally spoke, his speech remained perfectly clear, "I guess it is my turn. Alexis, um, how long have you known Arianna?"

"Since we were lil' kids. 'Cause she's two years ol'er than me she's always been like my ol'er sister," she responded before asking her next question. "EC, … why don'chu like me?"

"I do like you. We are good friends," he answered as he looked at the view out over the city to purposely avoid making eye contact with her, but in his intoxication the height began to make him dizzy so he simply shut his eyes instead.

"No, I mean 'like me' like me."

"Alexis, I -," He began.

Unexpectedly, Dusty interrupted him with a loud, agonized groan as he awoke from his brief stupor, "This isn't th' library!"

El Chu and Alexis looked at him, then to one another in confusion, and then back to the crop duster before erupting in laughter at Dusty's expense once again.

"Wha's so funny?" Dusty asked, frowning at his friends' mockery.

Many of the affluent, snobbish vehicles in the Sky Bar shot disapproving glares to the racing trio and whispered about them to one another.

"This used to be such a nice bar but now it seems they'll let any riff raff in here," said one arrogant plane to his female partner.

Alexis had overheard and was furious at the remark.

"We are not 'riff raff'!" She roared.

"I wasn't referring to you," clarified the male plane. "We know who you two are. Everyone knows Dusty is the current Rally titleholder and Alexis, we've all seen your death-defying feats auto tuned and remixed to just about every song imaginable on FlewTube."

"Really?!" Alexis and Dusty said in unison, the sobering glimmer of stardom recognizable in their eyes as it pulled them from their inebriation.

"Mr. Crophopper, would you sign this glass for me?" Inquired one spiffy tug as he came up to the crop duster.

"Uh, sure, I'll try," he beamed.

Just then, a male yellow 2012 Nurburgring Edition LFA with stunning green eyes approached the stunt plane.

"Excuse me, miss, but I couldn't help noticing that … you're Alexis and I'm _a Lexus_. What do I have to do to get you interested in me?" He coolly asked.

"W-whoa," she stammered as her eyes roved over the body of the sleek and powerful supercar. "Oh, if I wasn't a plane - I mean … I … actually have a boyfriend, but I would love to swap phone numbers if that's cool."

"Yeah, that's cool. I'm Travis by the way," he said with a smile so sexy it could've melted the paint off of just about anyone.

They exchanged numbers and he went back to his group of friends while Alexis just stood there in a daze watching him go. Dusty came over to her after he had witnessed the whole scene unfold.

"I feel kind of funny saying this because I know he's a dude, but that car was hot!" The crop duster admitted. "Like $445,000 hot!"

"Yeah," she sighed happily. "And the hottest part is he knows I'm a girl."

"See what I mean? You two are welcome here. It's that guy who doesn't belong," said the haughty plane from before as he pointed with a wing to El Chupacabra.

El Chu was terribly wounded by his words and parked at the bar by himself. For Alexis, the fame felt fantastic but not at the expense of her beloved El Chu's feelings and she'd had enough.

Not bothering to think twice about it in her drunken state, she leapt up on to their short table, which drew many a gasp from the aristocratic throng, and shouted, "Hey! You can't talk about my boyfriend like that! EC may not be snob rich like the rest of you but that's because he's … uh … a great philanthropist!"

"Oh, is that so?!" Asked the male plane's female friend excitedly. "Charity work is always notable among us successful folk!"

"Good, because El Chupacabra is the most charitable and generous plane on Earth! He's a true hero of the people! Go on, EC, tell 'em."

"Yes, 'El Chupacabra' was it? Please tell us of your humanitarian efforts," the formerly snooty male plane begged.

"Uh … well … back home in Mexico I help out at the local shelter twice a week," he confessed meekly.

"You brave, brave soul!" Exclaimed the other male plane in shock. "You live in such a dangerous, crime-riddled place just to help the less fortunate?!"

The crowd of rich vehicles surrounded the Gee Bee to hear what he had to say and they hung on his every word. El Chu readily soaked up their attention.

"Also, 10% of my CD sales go to keeping children off drugs," the Mexican continued.

"A whole 10%?!" Gasped one overindulged tug. "Madness! There is such a thing as being too generous, you know! How do you afford top-quality fuel for yourself?!"

Suddenly, the affluent female plane came forward, "He isn't mad, he's a genius. That 10% can be written off and he'll get it back as a tax rebate."

They applauded his brilliant altruistic ideas. El Chupacabra was beaming and he gave Alexis a grateful glance. For the next couple of hours, Alexis, Dusty, and El Chu were guests of honor and when they were finally able to leave the Sky Bar and get away from the new fans, they'd found that they hadn't paid for a single drink.

"Well, that was fun. Are we calling it a night?" Asked Dusty as he and his friends stumbled out of the Hilton.

"The night is still young, guys. Let's check out the shops," Alexis suggested.

The three planes studied the various storefronts as they taxied down the boardwalk. When they came to one called 'The Lube Shop' Dusty stopped.

"I wonder if they have TigerFyre in flavors other than strawberry and blueberry," he teased Alexis.

"I highly doubt they have it at all, but we can check it out," she grinned back.

As they all rolled inside, a bell chimed. The single shopkeeper was a purple and black Scion tC.

"Welcome to The Lube Shop. My name is Eugene, how may I help you?" He asked, not even bothering to look up as he addressed them from where he was parked behind the counter reading a book.

"Do you have any TigerFyre brand engine conditioner?!" Dusty called out to Eugene.

"No, we don't sell that kind of thing here."

Dusty, Alexis, and El Chu took a closer look at the shop's wares from where they stood in the doorway. One wall was lined with an assortment of wing, strut, propeller, and tail covers in leather or lace. Another contained a variety of books, magazines, and videos. Yet another was covered with whips, chains, tire cuffs, and gags. The air was heavy with the scent of latex.

"El Chu, what kind of lube shop is this?" Whispered Dusty softly in confusion.

"Uh oh, … this is an adult novelty store," the Gee Bee gulped quietly in horror as he slowly turned to verify that the shopkeeper hadn't actually looked up and seen all of them yet. "Amigos, it is not too late for us all to calmly roll back out and go-"

"A sex shop! Alright!" Cheered Alexis raucously before darting elatedly inside.

"Alexis, no!" Shrieked Dusty and El Chu in unison but it was already too late.


	9. The Lube Shop aka The Shallow Truth

**Well, I guess I'm finally making good on those 'sensual scenes' I promised in the summary. This chapter is rated T+ ... and for that I apologize.**

**Songs: ****_Genie in a Bottle_**** by Christina Aguilera**

* * *

Eugene, now alerted to the presence of more than one visitor, looked up from his reading and out at the trio, "Three guys together. That's unusual."

"I'm a girl!" Shouted the stunt plane as she checked out the store's airplane accessories.

"My apologies," said the tC. "Two guys on one girl, I'm not loving those numbers. Are you gonna be alright, mama?"

"It's not like that, Gene," assured Alexis, gently using a wingtip to take a set of plane covers off the wall. "I keep them in line."

"Yes, ma'am!" He laughed at her enthusiasm before zipping to her side. "Can I interest you and your submissives in our bondage section?"

"Maybe later. Can I try these on now?"

"Of course! I'll get my associate to help you. DARREN!"

Just then a forest green male tug with deep brown eyes peeked out of a room marked 'Employees Only'.

"What?" He asked casually.

"What are you doing?" Inquired Eugene right back.

"I'm … uh … checking the … quality of the videos."

"Oh yeah? What video? And don't you lie to me."

"Um … Forklifts Gone Wild … 6," Darren hesitantly confessed.

"Can you stop being a pervert for five minutes? We've got customers."

"Okay, but just five minutes. I really think I need to check the audio for Forklifts Gone Wild 7, … and 8, … and probably 9."

Alexis followed Eugene and Darren to a corner of the large store that was lined with mirrors before the forklift helped her put on the apparel.

"Dude, you know this outfit is for girls right?" Questioned the tug.

"I AM A GIRL!" The stunt plane growled in annoyance.

"Okay, okay!"

After the complete set of wing, landing gear, and tail covers were on she turned to the wall to study her reflection. The glittery cobalt blue fabric was form-fitting and beautifully laced lengthwise up the leading edges of each of the covers with gilded polyester cords. The trailing edges sported tassels of the same golden hue.

"How do I look?" She asked.

"Like a drag quee-," grunted Darren as Eugene kicked him hard with a tire, thereby forcing him to revise his statement. "I mean … like a … _sexy_ drag queen."

Alexis sighed dejectedly.

"Don't listen to him. You kinda look like a … genie," comforted the tC before playfully humming the _I Dream of Jeannie_ theme song. Then he continued, "Besides, babe, it doesn't matter how they look when they're on. What's important is when they come off."

"How am I supposed to get them off?"

"Well," chuckled Eugene as he circled around behind her. "You could have your partners undress you or … you could use them to pull the garments off yourself during a striptease."

"A st-striptease?" Gulped Alexis.

"You do know how to strip don't you?"

"Of course. It's just taking off your clothes right?"

"It's a little more than that. Here, do this," he instructed, unrolling a poster with the moves for an erotic dance sequence illustrated and explained upon it. "Your super uptight friends are gonna love it and don't worry, Darren and I will help."

"I don't know. It's one thing to pick on Dusty, but EC … I could never do it. He gives me major butterflies!"

"Then focus on the 'Dusty' one and give the occasional alluring glance to the other one," Eugene counseled.

Meanwhile, El Chupacabra and Dusty stood at the entrance of the shop, refusing to take a single step further inside as they waited for Alexis.

"This is soooo awkward," Dusty whined.

"This is all your fault," accused El Chu. "Why did you want to come in here?"

"I didn't know what kind of store it was!"

"Well, someone is going to have to go in and get her."

"She's _your_ girlfriend," pointed out the crop duster.

"She is not-," El Chu began.

Suddenly, Alexis taxied out into view interrupting his retort. Immediately after, the lights all dimmed and a spotlight flashed upon her as _Genie in a Bottle_ began to play over the shop speakers, courtesy of Darren and Eugene. Confused, Dusty and El Chu looked at each other then back to Alexis. The Grob 120TP swung her tail from side to side as she strutted closer to the boys. Her eyes were locked to Dusty's as she gently approached him. At the last moment she turned left, raising her right wing high so that it passed above the crop duster and allowed the tassels to seductively brush over his face. Now before El Chu, her eyes held his as she used the tip of the same wing to wind his propeller around a few times. Unbeknownst to him, his propeller caught the lacing of her right wing cover. Still facing the Gee Bee, Alexis coyly rolled backwards away from him thus permitting the article of clothing to slowly be removed. Once far enough away she turned her tail to the males and danced to the music. As she made invisible figure eights in the air by rolling her wings back and forth to the beat, they noticed one of the wing covers was gone. Both Dusty and El Chu gazed down to the front of the Mexican racer's hulking engine where the garment hung cheekily from his propeller. He chuckled timidly then allowed his prop to turn a bit so that the piece of apparel fell to the ground. When the second verse began she turned back to them sharply, her tassels swinging enticingly, and sung along as she advanced towards Dusty again.

_The music's fading and the lights down low  
Just one more dance and then were good to go  
Waiting for someone who needs me_

_Hormones racing at the speed of light  
But that don't mean it's gotta be tonight  
Baby, baby, baby_

Her eyes peered into his as she pressed their nose cones together briefly. Afterwards she moved to circle around him and as she passed by, she caressed the top of his left wing with the bottom of hers so that his wingtip snagged the laces. The remaining wing cover sensually slid off as she slipped past him and a shudder coursed Dusty's fuselage. Alexis rolled up between the two boys, her wingtips stroking their sides and compelling them to move apart and make room for her. She extended one of her wheels towards El Chu.

"Wanna help me out here, boyfriend?" She inquired smoothly, her nervousness well hidden.

El Chupacabra's mouth was dry. His jaw dropped at the very first tail swish and had remained that way throughout the whole steamy exhibition. Oh, how he tried so hard to conceal his newfound interest but the way he stared, the way he watched her every move, revealed that he was feeling more than a little hot and bothered.

"Uh huh," he faltered, eyes wide in astonishment, before lowering a wing and using it to loosen the laces of the landing gear cover.

"So, did you like my dance?"

"Uh huh."

Alexis giggled at his speechlessness, "Is that all you can say?"

"Uh huh."

After the piece fell to her tire, she shook it off and then extended the other wheel to Dusty.

"Well, Mr. Crophopper?" She asked.

The crop duster's gaze slid from Alexis' mischievous smile down her fuselage to her landing gear and the remaining landing gear cover. There were so many features about her body that he'd previously never been forced to notice. Like the symbols in her paintwork, oh god, how they glistened in the spotlight! What did they stand for? And her tattoo; 'creo que puedo volar', which typically went ignored on her left flank, oh how those alluring words seemed like they would leap off her body as she danced! What did they mean? It didn't matter, not at this moment anyway as Dusty was already too close to losing his cool. He was trembling and his breathing was heavy as his eyes drank in a version of his friend he'd only briefly met once before … in the shower. 'Hello Sexy Lexi' indeed!

"Ohh," Dusty groaned before his eyes rolled back and he passed out.

"Dusty?" She inquired in concern.

Still gripped with awe, El Chu was catatonic.

"Quick, Darren, turn the lights back on," said Eugene as he shut the music off.

His order went unheard as the pervy tug stared at the stunt plane in a daze, hypnotized by the performance.

"THE LIGHTS, DARREN!" The tC barked.

"Oh, yeah! Sure! The lights!" Gasped the little forklift as he hurriedly switched them back on.

Eugene laughed joyously as he came to Alexis' side, "See?! That was hot, and I told you they'd love it!"

"Yeah," she grinned as Darren helped remove the final pieces of the outfit.

After El Chu had been snapped from his trance he awoke Dusty while Alexis made her purchases.

As the three pals exited the store, she turned back and asked, "Eugene, why didn't my dance have any effect on you?"

"Frankly, my dear, I prefer the company of other men," he smiled with a wink. "Thank you for you business and a fun time. Have a good night you three!"

Alexis returned to her friends out on the Boardwalk with her shopping bag hanging from her wing.

"Dusty, are you alright?" She asked.

"Yes, compadre, que paso?" Inquired El Chu.

Clearly remembering what happened, Dusty quickly attempted to play it off, "I'm fine. I must've had too much to drink that's all."

"Okay, well, we can't fly then. So, we'd better start rolling home," she said, taking a single step out into the street.

Cars blared their horns and swerved to avoid her before El Chu swiftly hooked his propeller behind one of her stabilizers and yanked her back off the road.

"Perhaps … we have all had too much to drink to even taxi home," warned the Gee Bee.

"I hate to suggest it," said Dusty. "But we can use Tucker's Plane Taxi service."

His friends agreed so Dusty used his SkyPhone to call the tow truck and within 20 minutes he was there with a train of 3 long flatbed trailers.

"All aboard!" Tucker teased as he disengaged the trailers from each other and then himself.

"You're going to be able to pull all three of us?!" Asked the crop duster.

"Of course!" The tow truck answered as he lowered the ramps for the trailers. "I'm stronger than I look and people say I look pretty strong to begin with."

"Where's Bernice?"

"I think 3 planes is gonna be heavy enough as it is. You want me to haul her ass around too?"

Dusty, Alexis, and El Chu each rolled aboard a flatbed and Tucker made sure they were secure before locking up the trailers and then hooking himself and the train back together.

"Next stop; the qualifier grounds!" Informed the heavy-duty tow truck.

He accelerated forward but the trailers barely budged.

"Are you sure you can haul this much weight?" Questioned Dusty.

"Yeah, piece … of … cake!" Strained Tucker.

Slowly, they began to move and then gradually pick up speed. Tucker had to mind his pace. Braking with all the extra weight was tricky and there was no way he'd be able to make a sudden stop. Consequently, they enjoyed a long ride back home. Despite being the dark hours of early morning, the New York streets were still heavy with traffic. Dusty was quiet the whole way and sported a strangely pleased smirk. El Chupacabra was also silent yet his expression was rather despondent.

"Hey, boyfriend, what's wrong?" Asked Alexis.

"Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking about how in the hotel, I was simply 'that guy'," he reflected with a sigh. "I have no fans out here. No one even knows who I am."

"Aww, don't take it too hard, EC. It's just the location," she consoled. "I bet if you, Dusty, and I were in Mexico right now, everyone would be cheering your name. Then, they'd see me and Dusty and be like, 'Quien diablos son esos dos payasos?!'"

El Chu forced a chuckle, "Nah, everyone back home knows Dusty."

"Hey, don't forget that I'm your fan too. Your biggest fan in fact."

"You are right. Thank you, Alexis."

When they finally reached the qualifier grounds, Tucker was exhausted. He separated himself from the trailers and the trailers from each other again, then helped unfasten the 3 planes before collapsing upon the tarmac to catch his breath.

"Thanks, Tuck," said Alexis as she rolled from the flatbed.

"No, … thank you for choosing … Tucker's Plane Taxi," he wheezed from where he laid upon the ground. "That'll … be $95 … each."

"I thought Wings Around the Globe Rally entrants got free rides to the competition grounds."

After getting his second wind, he replied, "Yeah, from the airport to the competition grounds. Not from the beach to the competition grounds."

Alexis subtly moved closer and looked down on him as she replied, "Fair enough, but didn't you charge Dusty for his ride from the airport to the qualifiers a few days ago?"

Tucker was without regret, "He heh, so?"

"_So_, you are going to pay him back."

"And if I don't?" He gazed up at her with a smarmy grin before he finally realized the position he was in.

He quickly started to rise but just as swiftly Alexis leapt up and then slammed her heavy tires upon his hood, denting it severely and pinning him back to the asphalt! The tow truck was strong with his tires beneath him, but with his undercarriage pressed to the ground he was helpless.

With all the indifference of a Mafia don she coolly responded, "If you don't, not only will we ruin your business by telling everyone about your scams, all the money you've conned out of people is going to have to go to paying for all the repair work you're going to need."

"Ahh! Alright, alright!" Tucker snarled in pain, reaching out with a tire to access his SkyPad that had been thrown to the ground in the struggle.

"Dusty, access your account. Tuck wants to give you something."

Dusty didn't approve of Alexis' aggressive means of dealing with the tow truck but at least he was getting his money back, so he did as he was told and got out his SkyPad.

It took Tucker awhile to get the figures into the tablet right with the female standing on him, but he finally did it, "There!"

Alexis checked the tablet for accuracy, then stomped on his hood, "Refund his tip too."

"Okay! There! Bygones?!" Tucker groaned, reluctantly returning all of the crop duster's money to his account.

"We're getting there. You know, Dusty generously chose to do business with you again … even after you ripped him off."

"'Chose'? He's the only plane taxi service in all of Queens," Dusty explained. "Not much choice in that."

"Quiet, Dusty, I'm trying to hustle here," said Alexis. "Now Tuck, to show Dusty you appreciate his business you're going to pay him $95."

"What?!" The tow truck growled, furiously spinning his tires in an attempt to get free.

Alexis took one tire, put it to his windshield, and began to press down hard.

"Ow, ow, ow! Okay, okay!" He surrendered quickly, typing the dollar amount onto the screen before he was forced to close his eyes from the pressure.

Once again, the stunt plane checked for correctness, "What? No tip?"

Tucker was in pain and tired of the games. Clearly, Alexis wasn't kidding so he tipped Dusty 5 dollars to get her off of him.

She gave him a big innocent grin before rolling off his hood, "Thank you, _Fucker,_ and don't let me catch you cheating my friends again."

The big, navy blue tow truck shakily climbed to his tires, hooked up his trailers, and hobbled away. Both the crop duster and the Gee Bee were astounded and stared at Alexis is disbelief as they all headed to the competitor's quarters.

"Uh, thanks, Lexi. You didn't have to do that … and you probably shouldn't have," said Dusty.

"I cannot believe you just robbed Tucker!" Scolded El Chu.

"I didn't rob him. If I had, I would've told him to give Dusty _all_ of his money," Alexis replied. "Besides, he swindled Dusty first and all I did was get Dusty's money back. That's New York justice for you. Seriously, if you two are going to come here every year for the race you're going to have to toughen up."

Dusty nodded, agreeing with the stunt plane's statement simply to taunt El Chu, "Yeah, I just made $200. I think I know what I want to do for a living."

El Chu scoffed as Dusty put away his SkyPad after he counted the new deposit into his account.

"Well, gentlemen, it's been a fun and … memorable night, but now I'm turning in," said Alexis with a playful bow.

"Before you go, Lexi," called Dusty. "I've been meaning to ask what does 'creo que puedo volar' mean?"

"What?"

"Your tattoo, what does it mean?"

"Oh, it means-"

El Chupacabra quickly interposed, "It means 'I believe I can fly' … which makes no sense. We can all fly."

"You know, EC, I absolutely love the way you translate my Spanish. Here, translate this," she smiled. Then, leaning in close to him, she whispered in her most seductive tone, "Quiero contar su dientes con mi lengua. Mis alas están quemando te quiero tanto mal."

"Ay Dios mio," the Mexican cried under his breath.

"Well, goodnight, boys," Lexi yawned and then headed for her hangar.

Once again, El Chu was left standing frozen, eyes wide with surprise, and mouth agape.

"What did she say?" Dusty asked as he rolled over to his stunned friend.

El Chu ignored Dusty and spoke aloud to himself, "I cannot believe she just said that to me."

"What? What did she say?"

"Dusty! I thought you were brushing up on your Espanol."

"Well, excuse me, I must've left my Spanish to English dirty innuendo phrasebook at home!" Dusty retorted in sarcasm, growing irritated by his friend's stalling. "Now tell me what she said!"

"She said she wants me so bad it makes her wings burn…," El Chupacabra hesitantly revealed at last.

"Oh, well, that's rather romantic."

"But before that, she said she wants to count my teeth … with her tongue."

"Oh … my … god," gasped Dusty in disbelief.

"Yeah, that is what I said."

"W-well, compadre, how do you feel about that?"

"I must confess I am feeling a little conflicted," El Chu admitted. "On the one wing, I am not attracted to her and I find her a little dangerous and scary. On the other, that is the dirtiest thing anyone has ever said to me and I am not going to lie … it has got me a little excited."

"That's great! She's going to be so happy to hear that you finally want her for a girlfriend," Dusty smiled.

"Whoa there, amigo. I did not say all that. Yes, she arouses my interest … literally, but lust is not love."

"Then, why don't you love her?"

"She and I … have nothing in common."

"Every couple has their differences and has to compromise. Sometimes you do what you want to do and sometimes you do what she wants to do. She learned Spanish for you. That nice bar, she took us there for you. Drinking is your thing right?"

"Okay, and The Lube Shop, I went there for her."

"You're honestly going to tell me that you didn't enjoy that at all," Dusty gave the Gee Bee a doubtful glare.

"Not as much as you did," El Chu teased before doing a brief imitation of Dusty's fainting.

"I told you I collapsed because of the alcohol. Lexi had nothing to do with it!"

"As they say in America; 'yeah right'."

"Will you just tell me the real reason you don't want to be with her!" Growled the annoyed crop duster as he changed the subject.

"Okay!" The Mexican racer conceded to ease his friend's irritation. However, when he realized the implications of what he was about to confess, he became much more hesitant, "Okay… this whole time I have told you that it was Alexis' manner that I was not attracted to, … but the truth is … I just do not like her looks."

No longer upset but quite surprised, Dusty said, "What? Parts change. Paintjobs change. You're supposed to love what's on the inside, not the outside."

"I know. I did not want to tell you guys the real reason at first because I did not want you to think of me as shallow, but you asked for the truth … so there it is."

"Well, … I do think that's completely shallow," responded the crop duster, taking care not to blame his friend. "So, you don't care about her at all?"

No, I care about her a lot! Because of you, I have learned to care about her. I just do not … love her."

"I'm telling you that you would if you just _tried_ to get to know her."

"How do you know that?" El Chu asked curiously.

"I … I just have a feeling…"

"Well, so do I. I _feel_ that I do not find her physically attractive and therefore I am not motivated to get to know her. Perhaps if she fit in more with my tastes in women I would find her better looking."

"Maybe you could gently encourage her to change her looks to match your 'tastes in women'. Lexi is pretty crazy about you so I'm sure she'd be willing to try."

"I do not feel comfortable asking someone to change for me."

"Then you should accept her the way she is," Dusty reprimanded.

"Nah… ," said El Chupacabra. "She just looks too much like a boy for me, amigo."

"That may be true but, not that long ago, weren't we both drooling over that 'boy'?"

The 2 planes grew quiet as they stared up into the clear, starry, early morning sky. It had been a long night and they were exhausted but at the same time, a strange insomnia had settled over them. So, despite looking as if they would fall asleep on their wheels at any moment, they continued conversing.

"In less than 8 hours the third round is going to start and we are going to do a terrible job," yawned El Chu.

"Yeah, we'll probably drop on the leaderboard but as long as we stay in the top 22, we qualify," Dusty reasoned, before catching sight of the Gee Bee's yawn and then yawning himself. "Still, we better try to get some sleep."

"You will sleep, I am going to be up all night."

"Why?"

"I should have never given Alexis my number. She is probably going to call me and keep me up all night," El Chu sighed with a resigned grin.

"Lucky," mumbled Dusty as he thought of the stunt plane.

"What?"

"Um … I said that's … sucky," the little orange plane quickly concealed. "Well, good night, amigo."

Dusty and El Chupacabra went into their respective hangars to try to get some rest but for the crop duster sleep would not come. The song still echoed in his mind and every time he closed his eyes he saw Alexis dancing before him. He could still feel every touch; the warmth of her nose pressed to his, the intimacy of her wing possessively over his, her wingtip slightly tickling him as it trailed gently up his body. The sights, sounds, and sensations, assaulted his subconscious in an endless erotic loop. Her tauntingly light kisses from the shower, wait, he had forgotten all about their shower together! Unexpectedly, the sound of her moaning his name temporarily shattered his mental loop as it rung through his mind and sent an intense shudder through his body. That was it! Now that he'd remembered her moaning his name it was pretty much guaranteed that sweet slumber would never come to him. Yet the more he tossed and turned and struggled to stop his thinking, the more tired he became until he finally did fall asleep. He had only just dozed off when Alexis stormed into his hangar. She stood at the entrance staring at him, those wild blue-yellow eyes of hers full of more mischief than usual.

"Lexi? What are you doing here?" He yawned, his sleepy eyes struggling to focus in the dark hangar. "Is something wrong?"

She didn't reply. She just continued staring at him and smiling wickedly.

He took a step towards her and asked in growing concern, "Are you alright?"

Surprisingly, she swiftly rolled up and kissed him … hard! Dusty was absolutely shocked and backed up a bit to make sense of the situation.

"Lexi! W-what are you doing?!" He stammered.

In response, she sprung forward and pressed her lips to his again, completely taking the crop duster by surprise once more. Dusty seriously wanted to know what was going on but this time he didn't back away, he couldn't. These kisses weren't like the ones from the shower, they were much more satisfying and the more he moved forward, instead of back, the even more satisfying they became. El Chu was right; maybe the same powerful yearning had existed inside of Dusty all this time and Alexis' unexpected affection brought much needed relief. Each time their mouths melted together Dusty could feel frustration leaving him, so he tried to take it slow and savor each succulent caress but Lexi made out with him fast and deeply. There was a lustful urgency to the way she kissed him that his mind didn't quite grasp, but his body understood it entirely. Quickly, he dipped the front of his body so he could kiss lower on hers and as he slowly made his way down the length of her fuselage, her moaning echoed through his head again. Suddenly, he pressed his body to hers, shoving her backwards until she bumped into a tall tool case in the corner of the hangar, which rattled loudly when they hit it. Dusty hoped no one had heard.

"Sorry," he whispered softly, his voice trembling with ill-controlled desire. "I don't know what came over me." He kissed her a few more times then continued, "I must have wanted this more than I even I knew."

"Shhhh," soothed the stunt plane before grinning naughtily and glancing in the direction of El Chupacabra's hangar.

He followed her gaze and then looked back to Alexis, having caught her drift.

"Of course," Dusty panted. "I would never tell El Chu."

"'Never tell El Chu' what?!" The Gee Bee abruptly burst through the curtains, jarring the crop duster awake.

"Ahh!" Dusty shrieked, startled out of his sleep.

He looked around his dark, empty hangar. He was alone.

"It was a dream?" He huffed.

"Dusty? Are you alright?" Came El Chu's deep voice from the next hangar on the other side of the privacy curtains.

Dusty was still breathing heavily, "Yeah, I'm fine."

They were silent for a few moments as Dusty attempted to collect his thoughts and regain a sense of calm.

"'Never tell El Chu' what?" The Mexican racer softly repeated at last.

"Huh?"

"You were talking in your sleep and you said you would 'never tell El Chu'. Well, I must know what you would never tell me."

"I would never tell you … uh … to …," faltered Dusty as he thought of another feint to hide his true thoughts. "Pick your partners based off of how they look."

El Chupacabra rolled his eyes in disbelief that Dusty was still going on about that before grumbling, "That is what you were dreaming about? That is why you are so out of breath?"

"I was dreaming we were having a conversation as we flew … and then I … crashed."

"Oh, … try to get some rest, amigo."

"No, … I'm going for a stroll," Dusty sighed hopelessly. "I can't sleep."


End file.
